#VS saga is the type of game who will make you use everyone so I heard his theme a lot while playing xD

[thisisyourprincipalspeaking]

I feel that regardless of whatever this is, Chris gave ammo to those who were already too invested in him for whatever reason and he alienated those who genuinely supported his career and wanted the best for him. His fandom knew him to a certain degree and to do a 180 on his MO, not his image, but the years of observing his nature enough know when something is off. This mess was presented like damn near every Pr stunt, but he and his team failed to realize the fans are aware that Chris moves differently. He’s a celeb who is in Hollywood but not “Hollywood”, so the fandom immediately sensed something was off.

Also let’s not forget the trolling, he said he was LOOKING for love, not that he already had it, him saying the industry makes you do what you don’t want, him saying multiple things in People Mag only to turn around a mere 24+ hrs later and do the complete opposite of what he stated he wanted. I know there are people too invested in celebs but we’re not going to act like in this particular situation the fans just magically lost their minds for no reason. …..not fussing at you mod or anyone just typing my thoughts. 😅

They fed on the fans and wanted the fans to sell this mess but instead the fans went, wtf is this?! The thing that gets me is someone mentioned the new year and v day montage, the v day montage had pics used to answer most questions people had, meaning his team or him were responding to things. I’m like dude if this is legit, why are you bothered with a small portion of the internet. He lucky the general public doesn’t know what the fandom is aware of.

But yeah, I say both Chris, her and their teams are at fault as well as this fandom, everyone did the most for no reason and played their parts.

At times I logically have to go with if Chris said he’s married, then his married because I just can’t see how one can get on stage lie about it, like how do you explain to family “oh yeah I’m not really married and there were no actual weddings, that’s why I said “ceremonies” and how does one act like the fans are the issue if he’s out here purposely lying to gain whatever behind the scenes.

Like if this is legit, you’re telling me he and his team full of adults couldn’t have presented this better or did they simply underestimate the fans and the general public? I see things from various angles and honestly real vs pr, I can’t view things from both sides logically while understanding there are too many empty holes that allow people to insert their opinions and believe they are facts, thus people arguing over bs and forgetting what actually occurred.

There is a a blog who has captured EVERYTHING, it’s annislibrary, I believe and if anyone needs a recap go read through that mess and tell me how thinking this pr is “crazy”, it makes sense.

Like I said if he said he’s married then what more can people do, he’s claiming this either because it’s real or he chose this for a benefit career wise, either way is a bad look on his part. 🤷🏻‍♀️

fans have definitely been used and manipulated throughout this saga. i believe there's a lot of pieces that show how a game has been played the whole time. which makes the relationship that much more difficult to tolerate because either 1) he lied about very important and very harmful subjects surrounding his morals and beliefs for a very long time or 2) those morals and beliefs aren't important enough to keep him from agreeing to a farce for publicity or choosing a wife who is (even if only by association) the antithesis of said belief system.

it's atrocious to me that someone can rationalize abusing the loyalty of a fandom one has built over the course of a long career to further a narrative and give way for articles to say things like "eagle eyed fans noticed..." in their headlines just to turn around with the same mouth that said 'thanks for buying my bullshit' then decry those same fans by saying 'bitches be crazy.'

but it's the hand that has been dealt to the fandom and the best part is that we get to decide how we play.

PS principals love libraries! 🩶

[sou-ver-2-0]

Writing Master List

I love writing analysis and fanfiction for Your Turn to Die. Here, you can find links to all my writing. Spoilers abound!

Meta I’m Proudest Of

Why Calling It “Logic Versus Emotion” Makes Sense

Sou Hiyori and Kanna’s Sister Parallels

I was wondering why Sou had a zero percent survival rate…

What is Sou proudest of?

What is Kanna proudest of?

What is Keiji proudest of?

Unpopular opinion about Keiji

What are your thoughts on Nao as a character?

Why pushing Fake Reko is logical and sparing her is emotional

Shin vs. Kanna choice: each “valid in its own way”

That was a real comedy of errors on your part, Shin

What “Things” did Shin learn at Sou’s House?

If I could kill Keiji to save both Kanna and Shin...

Thoughts on queer-coded villains and Shin

I make Shin say five nice things about Keiji (not meta, but important)

Some jumbled thoughts about Redemption, and Part 2

How different do you think the story would be if Shin were a girl?

Theories

“Midori is Meister’s son,” and other Sou theories <- my favorite theory!

The Hades Incident, the Present Death Game, and the Role of the Man from the Memorandum

Rambling about Meister Family Theory

A Quick Keiji Theory

I’m staking my pride on this one: Keiji won’t die in the coffin. Part 1 and Part 2

Implications of Kanna being Original Sou’s blood relative

The Mystery of Anzu’s High Survival Rate

Fanfiction

My username is Florencetheflowerfairy on Ao3! Any fanfiction I write will be tagged “my fanfiction” on here.

I haven’t yet posted this to Ao3.

My fanart

Soup Hiyori

Happy birthday Kanna!

All of my meta

How does Sou deal with pain?

When does Sou feel safest? What would others change about him?

What would the others change about Sara?

What do I wish to see happen with Sou?

Chapter 3 Prediction: Sara will lose Keiji

Sou & Keiji’s relationship thoughts; and Personal Headcanons

Opinion on Midori / Original Sou; and Opinion on YTTS

Thoughts on Kurumada’s Partnership with Sou and Kanna

What calms Sou when he’s upset?

What does Sou wish he could change about himself?

Who would be Sou’s favorite fictional character?

What would EVERYONE change about Sou?

How did both Sous do in school?

Who does Sou want to please the most?

How would Kanna spend her money?

What calms Kai when he’s upset? How does Kai deal with pain?

How does Kanna do in school? What’s something Original Sou lost that he would love to have back?

What’s something I wish had happened with Joe?

Unpopular opinion about Q-Taro

What’s something I wish had happened with the Yabusame siblings?

Unpopular opinion about Kai

Unpopular opinion about Original Sou

Who would I vote for in the Second Main Game?

Laughing at Q-Taro in Russian Roulette

Speaking of “I laugh at inappropriate moments in YTTD”

Math Saga (Collection of Theorizing Posts about the Percentage Papers)

Why Kanna can’t take the scarf

More Scarf Meta

I think Shin should fake amnesia in the zaniest way possible, please

Thoughts on Mr. Policeman is Joe’s Dad Theory, Parts 1 and 2 (Some of these thoughts are outdated because I don’t think Keiji knew Joe’s last name in the beginning.)

If I ever seem too harsh on Keiji, please keep in mind

We can hear Joe’s music theme in Midori’s music theme

Thoughts on the Floor Masters

Did Shin send the Sacrifice Card to Joe?

What if Joe had one month to live?

What is Original Sou proud of?

Reading Shin as Queer

Alice and Pain

What would other people change about Kai?

Could Shin and Keiji’s roles switch?

What was Keiji like before the shooting?

I encouraged Sister to vote for Kai in Practice Round

How does Original Sou/Midori sleep?

Who do you think Keiji would bond with the most?

Analysis of Sara’s vote in the Practice Vote

Massacre Ending Thoughts

Thoughts on Naosara?

Dummy Bullet Saga (How did Shin know about dummy bullets??)

Keiji is my Confront Character

What will the fallout with the dummies look like?

Keiji seeing the percentage papers is the simplest answer IMO

Thoughts on Keialice

Thoughts on Joesara

Shin Tsukimi could have DIED ON HIS BIRTHDAY?!

Shin is Poor! Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3

One more funny story, on a walk with Sister...

How would Shin have fared in the Death Game without the Sou persona?

Is Shin too good for this world? (Reaction to above meta)

How would Joe, Kai, and Mishima approach the Second Main Game vote?

What do you think would be Shin’s partnership ability?

Thoughts on AI personalities

Reaction to ‘Sara gets the Sage Card’ Theory

Have you considered the implications of 0.0% vs. 0%?

Foolish Sara AU

When does the Death Game take place, and how long are they there?

Shin’s relationships with Reko and Gin

“When you drink, you gotta be careful not to get swallowed up yourself.”

Judge Keiji by the fact that he’s acting like a cop

I’ve switched to calling him Shin! 

What was Shin like in the years after Original Sou died, but before the Death Game?

Headcanons and Shin, Kanna, and trading tokens

Analyzing Shin and Sara’s doll placements in Safalin’s lab

Shin’s reaction to Sara’s “Haven’t we always been the bestest of friends?”

Scenario: Keymaster Kanna takes Shin’s key necklace instead of his scarf

Artists should draw Kanna grieving Shin however they like

Nao and Shin’s friendship

“I happen to like people with nice personalities”

I’m just putting these here so I can find them if necessary: 1, 2, 3

What if Shin thinks Sara is an adult?

Shrodinger’s Lock Saga (Many theories came from speculating about Asu-Naro’s weird locks in Sara’s first trial!)

Shin emulating Sou, oh no

Some thoughts on Shin and Alice, and the darker side to their relationship

A Serious Analysis of the Collarbone Sprites (& other Shin sprites)

Midori and Joe Sprite Parallels

Do you think Ranmaru is more or less reliable than Keiji?

Ranmaru and Keiji Parallels and Thoughts on Keiji flirting

Ranmaru and Keiji reacting to Joe

Out of the cast, who do you think is most likely to be the mastermind?

Miley vs. Gashu thoughts

Megumi Sasahara theories and headcanons

I love that this game’s heart is so earnest

AU where Shin has the Sacrifice, and he can’t pick Kanna

Theory/Headcanon: Sou-Shin-Sara-Kanna three year age gaps

Scenery Paintings in the Gallery

Kanna and Original Sou Parallel - “creepy smiles”

Undertale Parallels, and making Original Sou sympathetic

Kai and Original Sou Parallels

Fic ideas: Green-haired characters, and Shin + Sara Friendship

I love Fake Reko so much!

What if the decision to push Fake Reko affects what happens with the dummies?

Follow-up to above meta about Fake Reko

What if Joe died in his First Trial?

Reaction to Keiji Discourse about flirting, Part 2

Reactions to Fem!Shin:

Kanna’s perspective, Bath Scene Shin, More Bath Scene, Keiji flirting with Shin, I DON’T CARE HOW SEXY HE IS, Am I a lesbian

Will the dummies want to fill in for their counterparts’ lives?

Q-Taro Pacman Sister Theory

Poison Stinger analysis and Rio Ranger’s characterization

Megumi returns as a doll theory

More thoughts on “Back Up Candidates” Theory

Thoughts on AIs representing younger personalities

What if the current Death Game is another simulation?

Shin and Q-Taro ages musings

Shin and Sara ages musings

Honorifics Analysis: Part 1 and Part 2

Everyone’s music preferences headcanons

Shin’s thoughts on Gin in Logic Route

What if Shin died and Kai survived in the Second Main Game?

Imagine Trans Kanna

Thoughts on the names Sara “suspects” when learning that there is a human from Asu-Naro among us

Why doesn’t Shin challenge Keiji for lying that he’s a detective at the start?

Shipping

Which death hurt you the most?

Who do you think is overrated? Who do you think is suspicious?

Shin-Sou roleswap AU

Did you ever notice how Shin is crying during the First Main Game?

How do you think the characters sleep?

What if Shin became Sara’s ally instead of Keiji?

Seven Deadly Sins in YTTD

Song Analyses

“Rat” by Penelope Scott

“Villainous Thing” by Shayfer James

“Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met)” by Panic! at the Disco

“Butterflies and Hurricanes” by Muse

"House of memories" by Panic! at the Disco

More fun posts

Sister tag (All submissions by my sister)

Sometimes I get self-conscious for loving Sou Hiyori so much

Thinking about how our Sou Hiyori is a queer-coded villainous type

Picrew of the Greenblings

Fannish ramblings and Speculation about Voting for Keiji in 2nd Main Game

Sou has a halo in the manga

Sprite Parallels between Kanna, Sara, and Sou

Confession: Character development is more important than plot twists

Star Wars KOTOR musings

My Favorite Thing about Sou and Sara meeting

Another Greenblings Picrew

How to roast my fave

Are the greenblings next to each other??

Me feeling soft about Sou x Alice and Sou x Kai in spite of myself

I’m too much of a nerd for tumblr

Picrew of Green-haired characters and Sara

Cute Kurumada and Kanna headcanons

Do it for Nao

Happy birthday Keiji, from Sou

Danganronpa Thoughts as of 10/22/20

Top 3 emotional moments

Comparing Eye Sizes

I’m all caught up with 3-1A as of 10/24/20

Link to my “Shin attacking Inbox” edit

I am my PFP

“Disclosure” apparently means “Coming Out”

What did you name your Midori?

Do you think Shin was a gamer?

PMMM Thoughts: Logic vs Emotion

Why would you make Shin a tank?!

Dracula is Sou and Shin is Renfield

Among Us Headcanon

I just think Kanna having the Keymaster first is good drama

So long you fucking fascist (posted on 11/7/20)

Please don’t send me leaks!

Also how are we going to tag spoilers...? (11/12/20)

oh no I’m getting sentimental

Shin and Sara’s confrontation over the smartphone remains my favorite thing ever

Reactions to “I make Shin say five nice things about Keiji”: 1, 2, 3

A Rewarding part of my blog

My undying love for Britney Spears

“Ahaha, I’m glad you remembered my name.”

I love this picrew for the Greenblings

“Saw” and “Cage” on Google Translate

What if there were two Gonbee Yamadas?

Put them in meme boxes

Keiji’s emo eyeliner

Shin can smash something! and part 2

Acrostic Poem for Sou Hiyori

Midori’s canon voice

“Sou” puns

Time sensitive questions!! 1 and 2

All the characters’ ages

Do you think Shin swears?

Let’s not pit bears and twinks against each other!

Here’s how Shindemption can still win

tfw you draw fanart in time for Kanna’s birthday

Keiji accuses Shin of breaking Mishima’s monitor even though he KNOWS Shin is innocent

Q-Taro and Shin college AU

Kugie’s ghost haunting Keiji

Christmas 2020: Part 1 and Part 2

Picrew of Shin and Sou, High School Days~

I struggle to write villains

I play Villains Bingo with Shin

…

This list will be updated sporadically as I write more! You can always use the “mine” tag to find any worthwhile original post I make.

Please feel free to talk to me about YTTD anytime! I love hearing from you all! It keeps me motivated and makes me happy to meet people!

[tothe8andbeyond]

D-8 SVT 5TH ANNIVERSARY: FAVORITE GOING SEVENTEEN EPISODE - MT SVT REALITY, GOSE 2019 EP 3-4 & 7, DEBATE NIGHT, SVT PLAYGROUND, DON'T LIE, BOO SEUNGKWAN'S PAST LIFE DESTINY, INSOMNIA ZERO (#2), AND MORE

Season 1 began in 2017 (another reason 2017 is ironically Seventeen's year) and SVT content was changed forever.

It began as more of a behind the scenes with everything from Don't Wanna Cry, Diamond Edge, Clap promo, and all the fansigns inbetween. This season just made me really sad I wasn't a carat sooner but it was a cool vlog for the boys and they were so excited to be filmed, precious bubs. I don't really have a favorite episode but here are some iconic/favorite moments

"Goiiiiing.. SEVENTEEN!" "goinggoing~~~"

Covering the camera with Hoshi's hand

"What if I die?!" "Then you die!"

SVT Energy Skincare™

Jun leaving people "frozen"

Angry MC Santa Wonwoo

Asking for the unicorn frap at Starbucks and having the order total turn out to be $17 thus triggering the members

Minghao flexing on everyone's life (again) on the trampoline

Hoshi being depressed about not getting bday wishes

Dino's "fanboys"

"Americano, aMEricano, ameRIcano, ameriCANo, americanO"

Make It Shine blooper

The dog from the concert poster photoshoot

Dabhao was thriving

My I behind the scenes 🥰

Any Junhao moment bc I'm whipped

Little 8 practicing his singing 🥺

Trauma (Seungkwan remix)

Spin-Off started introducing us more to GoSe in a variety format

We got variety-esque episodes like with the members cooking, writing letters to themselves, making flower crowns, drawing, and the arcade episode! But it was still mostly vlog-esque where we got to see behind the scenes of Thanks, Ideal Cut Concerts, Japan Arena Tour, 3rd Anniversary, their exhibit, Oh My/YMMD, and BSS promo. Again making me emo I wasn't a carat earlier missing all these iconic moments 🥺

My favorite episode is easily MT SVT REALITY and Hoshi yelling out the window still might be one of the most iconic moments ever, PERIOD. My other fave moments include

DK and Jeonghan fake laughing for like 5 mins straight

Minghao's mullet, period.

Driver Minghao for TTT

Jun abandoning DK to help Wonwoo with his apron instead

The birth of the legendary "T H E to the 8" rap (feat. the return of imma)

Producer Woozi

Episode 20 (yes I have that memorized) when Minghao hosts a cute little hotel date 🥺 he tells fans not to think of him romantically and then pulls this shit pretending to feed us and everything which is why I'm sad lol

Minghao's giggle when he did the bottle flip 🥺

Vernon full on losing it during an arcade game while Hao who's playing with him is dead silent

V8 vs. older bros

"you're over, Yoon Jeonghan"

Junnie winning at the fighting game uwu

The iconic Thinkin About You looks

That pose Jeonghan does that screams "your crush is coming, act natural"

Mingyu getting too excited and spitting on the cake so the members cover it but Mingyu thinks they're doing a team cheer

Hoshi screaming "2 captains!" repeatedly while Woozi regrets his life's decisions

Killing the8 in mafia just for returning from China

GoSe 2019 was the birth of the true variety show. They even made a theme song and everything 🤣😭 SVT are such natural entertainers ohmygod (and the editors really stepped up their game thank u staffs)

There was still some behind the scenes like the 4th Anniversary, Japan concerts, and Minghao instructing for Chinese Ver. of home, but they kind of started transitioning behind the scenes content to a different spot on the channel and honestly carats are so well fed with content #blessed. ALSO THIS WAS AROUND THE TIME I BECAME A FAN IM EMO

My absolute fave eps are the ones when they were brainstorming their own ideas for the show (3-4), the making of the intro/theme (7), debate night, and SVT playground but honestly the whole fucking season has so many iconic moments

Vernon not being able to read red marker bc of his red glasses

Jun's 1+1

Honestly it's so entertaining hearing them talk about their ideas even without them implementing them yet, they're seriously so creative

They do skits/roles so well like Jun pretending he's from the Chinese restaurant next door and Woozi being CEO of Going Entertainment dndkdk I cannot make this shit up

"Jeonghan act tired" Jeonghan: *fully falls to the floor and drags his body to the couch djdkdkdkkdld he's so fucking dramatic I'm still dying at this

Wonhao running around dead S.Coups

Minghao doing the going dance down the stairs (flexing again)

Pabo latte

Enthusiastic Minghao in Japan 🥺

The MBTI hidden camera

Diva Boo being pissed he didn't get Beyonce's MBTI but someone else did

Monsta X saving them at karaoke

Pigeon DK thriving during debate night

Geppetto Minghao looking fine af during debate night "I said so many nonsenses, I hope you liked it"

TTT fun - meerkat line rise, Jeonghan and Hoshi catching bugs but screaming the whole time, network love unit playing except Hao and he just gives them a cute "fighting!" Like they're his kids but he's just trying to relax lol, more mafia, Jun being hilarious during try not to laugh, S.Coups wanting to kill the staff (as usual), THE MEMBERS PLAYING WITH KITTENS

Froghao was thriving during svt playground

Bothering Woozi during secret santa

Hao's face when Jeonghan took the iPad

Dino literally got gifted a brick??

Junnie's light up grills

GoSe 2020 continues the variety so well and each member gets a month! So sad they shortened the theme but they gave us subs! Also the previews for next episode are great! They also stepped up the editing too. They are all working so hard for this and it really pays off

My favorite episodes so far are Don't Lie, Seungkwan's Past Life Destiny, and Insomnia Zero (especially part 2). I'm so damn hyped for Debate Night 2. Again so blessed for this content 😭🙌

It's harder to list moments when the entire episodes are iconic!!

DK failing at his own mystery food game

Minghao literally lucky number 8

The saga of Minghao being amazed at Mingyu's eating continues

Hoshi singlehandedly admitting he's mafia then getting Mingyu killed instead then openly killing the citizens at night without needing to hide and then winning the game ohmygod I cannot at how fucking wild and hilarious this episode was

Sleepy Jun during Seungkwan's Past Life Destiny

Junhao, evil twins, seoksoon, mingyuzi rise

Dino rejecting Mingyu with a moonwalk

The overall betrayal of couples omg

SA DALLA

Jun showing the Made in China tag djdkkd

Limbo was fucking wild

The members are all whipped for Woozi that shit made me soft as hell

Talking shit when other members are trying to sleep

Woozi loves dad jokes so much omg

They are so damn dramatic for the ASMR in Insomnia Zero pt 2 omg

TASTY

Jeonghan purposely not answering Hoshi's call to come back

Hoshi giggling that Woozi lost and Woozi fully having a crisis

Wonwoo identity crisis as one of the chill members

Brain Survival and Escape Room made my brain hurt but they're so smart

Minghao jump scare poor bb

Kicked out members becoming audience reactors

DK and Jeonghan fucking around with the props instead of helping

Their delivery food episode just made me hungry

S.Coups not flinching one bit at arm wrestling Hoshi

Trying to act cool when the move spots on the chess board

Seungkwan's wipe out

Getting debate night 2 really saved my life I can't wait for the rest of 2020

I typed way more than I should have but I just love Going Seventeen and all Seventeen content, being a carat really is a blessed life!

[arlocdiz272]

Titaniumtv For  Organisation: The  Guidelines Are Made To Be  Busted

iTunes Top 20 Many Downloaded Songs of All Time

However, LastPass really feels a little more secure and also pleasant (normally), particularly with its extra authenticator app. This is a top 10 listing of one of the most used smartphone apps in the UNITED STATE as of August 2017. All of these apps originate from publicly traded business based in The golden state. Like mobile phone, conference scheduler applications are moving from a nice-to-have deluxe to essential requirement in the lives of effective people.

With its wise style and also a comprehensive collection of foods, it makes swiftly logging the calories you take in as well as what you shed while exercising a breeze. A barcode scanner makes it also easier to log that post-workout treat. This physical fitness application additionally plays wonderful with various other such apps, so your information will not be tied up in just one place. MyFitnessPal won't offer you a whole workout program, however it can make you more aware of your habits.

Google Assistant/ Google Feed/ Google Browse

Those apps will likely automatically reopen anyhow if it shuts power-hungry apps. Therefore, the result is reversed and power intake could in fact boost.

What are the best free Android apps?

Subway Surfers Was the Most Downloaded Game of the Decade Success came from many different places as each of the most downloaded games came from a different company. Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga stand out as the only 2 apps to appear on both the top apps by downloads and consumer spend lists.

There's no totally free rate, so you'll need to pony up $10 a month. Originally, we weren't mosting likely to place any kind of launchers on this checklist. Nova Launcher seems to be prolong beyond what regular launchers are. It's been around for years, it's been consistently upgraded, and also thus it's never not been a fantastic option for a launcher replacement. If you desire to, you can also make it look like the Pixel Launcher.

What you make on your phone will certainly look specifically the same on the desktop. Dropbox originated the personal cloud solution, where all your stuff would certainly be readily available no matter what device you were using. On Android, it holds its own-- also versus the very incorporated Google Drive. Dropbox can likewise function as a smooth backup for your photos, immediately publishing every picture to the cloud.

Worldwide Top Apps by Google Play Downloads.

The Android app lets you take your jobs on the move and also offline, syncing your development when you're back on the network. It's an effective device with an outstanding user interface, and new features are added routinely. Hulu has actually long been a significant gamer in the on-demand streaming space and also its huge library of current and also formerly broadcast programs provide appealing choices for several. Hulu's live TELEVISION part is impressive too, with an excellent series of networks and also properly designed applications. Hulu's combination of on-demand and also online TELEVISION services makes it an excellent value.

There is additionally a second Google Assistant app for those that desire a quick launch symbol on the residence screen. The equipment things costs money, but Google Assistant is free. Amazon.com Alexa is an additional superb application in this space, but it doesn't support Google Android quite as long as we would such as, yet. 1Weather is probably the very best weather app around. It features a basic, paginated layout that reveals you the existing climate, projection for approximately 12 weeks, a radar, and various other fun stats.

Ideal Online Buying Apps in India, UNITED STATES 2020.

Although you need a paid Kaspersky Internet Safety subscription to use all its attributes, some standard performance is offered totally free. It seems like simply yesterday that Facebook-owned Instagram was adding video.

What apps should everyone have?

Some free apps generate revenue via in-app purchases or advertising, while others are purchased for a modest price. Even though some apps have made millionaires out of their creators, most app developers will not strike it rich, and the chances of making it big are depressingly small.

This is the checklist of the Google Play apps with over 500 million and much less than one billion downloads on distinct gadgets. Only ten applications have gone across the 5 billion downloads mark. Seven of these apps are had by Google and also come preinstalled. Facebook passed TikTok to join WhatsApp and Messenger amongst the top 3 applications. TikTok was well ahead of the No. 5 application, Instagram, with almost 65 percent a lot more sets up in the quarter.

The best dating apps for 2020.

Nonetheless, there are lots of incredible choices that do not cost you anything. These services are generally sustained by advertising and marketing, sponsorship of some find this kind, or something else. Nevertheless, there are still some genuinely excellent applications out there that you can utilize free of cost without paying a dollar. This is a finest all-time checklist, type of like hall of popularity, so the majority of these applications aren't necessarily brand-new.

What apps should I delete?

WhatsApp has 300 million daily active users worldwide. There are 300 million WhatsApp users who text using the app every day. To compare with WhatsApp's parent company, 1.5 billion people log into their Facebook accounts every day. WhatsApp's competition, on the other hand, receives fewer visits per day.

Apple Songs vs. Spotify.

You'll find it on every type of computer in every kind of setup, as well as now it's available free of charge on Android. Word plugs into Microsoft's cloud facilities to maintain your documents in order, however its major marketing factor is that this truly is Word.

[metalandmagi]

Fall 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Wondering what anime to watch now that the jam packed summer season is over? Never fear, we’re into the fall, and there’s even more great shows this season! It’s my last rec list of the year so we’re in the home stretch now!

Full disclaimer, this season is packed with great shows, but a lot of these are not available on Crunchyroll...so here’s a link to a list of where you can watch everything legally on streaming! And I’ll but an (*) by everything that IS on Crunchyroll.

And here’s my recs for every season this year:

Summer 2019

Spring 2019

Winter 2019

And here’s my master list for 2020

New shows!

Chuubyou Gekihatsu-Boy (Outburst Dreamer Boy): A comedy in which a normal girl just wants a peaceful high school life, but finds herself surrounded by a group of ridiculous, overly dramatic boys who are all part of the “hero club” who try to make her school life better by helping her make friends. This is all well and good, but all the boys are delusional in one way or another. For example, one thinks he and his friends are basically Power Rangers, and another is obsessed with fabricating dramatic fake anime backstories for himself. It’s Ouran High School Host Club without the hosting. It’s absolutely hilarious, but it’s really flying under the radar because it’s not on Crunchyroll.

Kabukichou Sherlock: A surprisingly comedic modern version of Sherlock Holmes that takes place in the seedier portions of Japan in which a bunch of the city’s quirky detectives try and hunt down Jack the Ripper. I was not expecting this to be nearly as good as it was. The characters are great, Mrs. Hudson is a transvestite cabaret singer, the soundtrack is bomb, it’s an original anime by Production I.G. AND SHERLOCK EXPLAINS HIS DETECTIVE PROCESS THROUGH MYSTERY SOLVING RAKUGO!!!! 

Babylon: NO, NOT FATE BABYLONIA! This is a mystery/thriller involving a case of illegal clinical research for a pharmaceutical company that leads down a rabbit hole full of murder, suicide, and political intrigue. IT’S LIKE DEATH NOTE AND MONSTER HAD A BABY AND IT’S FREAKING AMAZING! I haven’t been this interested in a mystery/crime anime since Erased. The first episode will definitely leave you...hanging…. The only problem is it’s not on Crunchyroll, so I have a feeling most people won’t know about it because it’s on freaking Amazon Prime!

Hoshiai no Sora (Stars Align): A coming of age sports anime in which a boys soft tennis team sucks so bad that the school will disband them if they don’t win a tournament. And the team captain is so desperate for serious members, he literally pays his childhood friend who recently moved back into town to play on the team. And said childhood friend has an incredibly interesting backstory and struggling family life that ropes you in right away. How is soft tennis different from regular tennis? No clue, but this show is awesome! You can tell by the first episode it is going to be a great coming of age story, with more mature themes of abuse and class difference.

And it’s not the only sports anime with Sora in the title...

*Ahiru no Sora (Sora the Duck): Another sports anime, in which a short, spikey haired boy wants to play basketball (yeah yeah very original) but discovers that his high school basketball team is full of punks! It’s basically what would happen if Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a basketball player. The first few minutes are basically every sports anime you’ve ever seen, BUT it really lives up to its potential by the end of the first episode. It has a likable protagonist, good animation, and the female characters all wear realistic clothes to play basketball in! If you’re a piece of sports anime trash like me, this is definitely the show for you!

No Gun Life: In a detective noir world where everyone has basically become a cyborg, a guy with a gun for a head works to uncover the plans of an evil organization.  That’s it, that’s the whole thing. It’s made by Madhouse AND IT’S A CYBORG WITH A GUN FOR A HEAD! What else do you need?!

Beastars: IT’S JUST ANIME ZOOTOPIA! I’m not even kidding. It’s a school based mystery involving anthropomorphic animals who are faced with the murder of one of their classmates and the disruption of the peaceful coexistence of all types of animals in the school. It involves the whole predator vs prey dynamic and how appearances are deceiving, all with a jarringly serious tone considering everyone’s an animal. The only thing that doesn’t sit right with me is the use of 3D animation...which I notoriously despise no matter how great the show is. But even I am willing to put aside my hatred to keep watching this anime. The characters are interesting, it’s shot really creatively, and I love how ridiculously seriously it takes itself. Apparently it’s going to be on Netflix at some point.

*Shin Chuuka Ichiban (True Cooking Master Boy): It’s Food Wars’ less porny sibling that takes place in 19th century China, where a young boy named Mao is a master chef who travels around spreading his love for cooking! This is a reboot/continuation of an anime based on a manga from the 90s so there’s a really fun retro art style that’s nice to see updated. Apparently it picks up in the middle of the original story, but I haven’t felt like it’s necessary to see the source material to enjoy it or understand it. Also the soundtrack is bomb! It’s a great shounen to watch if you want more cross-cultural cooking anime that’s not straight up porn in your life, and it will definitely make you hungry!

Next seasons and Continuations!

 And don’t forget the summer leftovers, and some shows are getting continuations!

*Chihayafuru season 3: This is an incredibly fantastic underrated sports/club anime about a girl named Chihaya who struggles to find members for her karuta club after her best friend who made her fall in love with the game moves away. Never heard of “karuta”? It’s a physically and mentally challenging traditional Japanese game involving 100 poems written on cards that the players must memorize and locate before their opponent….it makes more sense when you see it I promise. This show is goddamn amazing, with incredibly realistic characters, an amazing game that most people don’t know about, gorgeous animation. It’s hilarious, it’s dramatic, it’s sad, and it’s uplifting all at once. 

This doesn’t premier until October 23, (so you’ve got time to binge the first 2 seasons!) but this is by far my most anticipated show of the season and quite possibly the entire year! I’VE BEEN WAITING SO MANY YEARS FOR ANOTHER SEASON, AND I’M SO PSYCHED!

Kono Oto Tomare (Stop this Sound) season 2: Speaking of club related anime, in case you missed the first season earlier this year, this is an anime about a boy who tries to recruit members for his high school koto club after all his senpais graduate. What’s a koto club you ask? It’s a large Japanese string instrument that no one cares about or plays anymore of course! Their club is endearingly terrible, with literally only one competent person on the team, but they’re aiming for nationals anyway, because...of course they are. This show seems pretty textbook at first, but it really grows on you the further you get. There are great character dynamics, it’s fun, it’s sweet, and there’s cool music that people don’t hear a lot of! If you like sports or club focused anime, give this one a chance!

*Dr. Stone: An action adventure in which all of humanity is mysteriously turned to stone one day. When a genius high school boy named Senku and his….not so genius friend Taiju awaken 3,700 years in the future, the two must rebuild civilization and turn the world back to normal with the power of science! I know pretty much everyone is watching this already, but I just want to reiterate how amazing it is. It is mysterious, educational, hilarious, and it really makes you think about civilization as we know it today. It was one of the best (if not the best) new show of the summer, and I’m so glad it’s getting a full run!

Vinland Saga: THE VIKING ANIME IS GETTING A FULL RUN!!!!!!!! In case you missed this gem in the summer, it’s a historical drama about a young boy named Thorfinn and his journey to avenge his father’s death and become a great warrior. And it’s all while traveling with his enemies through Northern Europe. It’s a fantastic dark, realistic story in a historical setting that filled the void left by Dororo. Plus it’s animated by Wit, so it looks beautiful. The music is great, the characters are intriguing, the story is interesting, AND IT HAS AN AMAZING ANTAGONIST! It has hype written all over it, so I’m pumped for the rest of the season! Unfortunately, you can only find it legally on Amazon Prime, so that’s why no one’s watching it.

*Fire Force: The (unfortunately timed) action/drama where fire fighters with super powers must protect Tokyo from people who are spontaneously combusting and uncover the evil rooted within their own organization. It’s made by the same person who created Soul Eater, and it definitely shows. The animation is high flying and out of this world. It’s worth watching for the action alone. But be warned, the plot and characters are it’s biggest weakness. It will jump between gratuitous fanservice and hijinks and then rocket into moral dilemmas and disturbing situations with no warning. BUT I still like watching it for the action, and in these later episodes the plot has steered itself back on track a lot more, and I’m way more interested in where the story is going now. I’m hoping that means the second half will give us a better sense of the characters. It also has a top tier muscular waifu! 

*My Hero Academia season 4: I’m sure everyone’s already going to be watching MHA, but I guess I’d have my anime fan badge revoked if I didn’t at least mention this one. I may not read the manga, but I know this arc is going to be a good one! I firmly believe this will be a modern classic, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, it’s really worth watching.

And that’s it for this season. I’ll probably do a list at the end of the year of my top shows of 2019, but otherwise, see you in the winter of 2020!

[aion-rsa]

The Weird History of Friday the 13th Comics

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Friday the 13th boasts some of the strangest movie tie-in comics ever made. We hit the bloody highs and lows. Mostly lows.

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Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees has been part of pop-culture for decades. It shouldn’t be surprising that he’s had his share of comic book adventures, what with him essentially being a supervillain in a story with no superheroes. Granted, he’s a one-dimensional supervillain with an incredibly vague origin story, but he’s been memorable enough to land him a dozen movie appearances. Many have told his tale in comic form and since the early '90s, he’s been represented by three different publishers.

The surprising thing to me is that the earliest Jason comic is only in the early 90s. For comparison, the RoboCop comics all stretched across the franchise’s entire existence. They were around for all four movies as well as the stretch where he was just about nostalgia. Jason Voorhees didn’t get the same treatment. For the most part, they missed the boat.

Topps Comics first picked up the license and Jason’s comic book debut came in July of 1993. Two comics came out this month with Jason in them, so it’s hard to say what was his very first appearance. One of the two comics was Satan’s Six #4 by Tony Isabella and John Cleary. We’re already bonkers out the gate here. Satan’s Six was part of the Secret City Saga, where Topps created a big story using a bunch of leftover Jack Kirby ideas that he never did anything with in the form of several miniseries that intertwined (think Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers). It didn’t last long enough to finish and with Satan’s Six, it’s no wonder.

The comic is a comedy about the demonic Odious Kamodious, who has his own team of agents out to create chaos in his name, only they always screw up. In the very beginning of this issue, Kamodious gets in an argument with one of his demons Frightful and threatens to replace him. He summons Jason Voorhees, who proceeds to talk like Rorschach and try to kill anything nearby.

Anyone else find randomly and casually tossing Jason into a superhero universe’s continuity really weird?

Frightful and teammate Bluedragon go after Jason, but he responds by throwing them a couple times and saying, “HRMM,” a lot. Despite only appearing for a couple of pages, Jason says that six times. Kamodious summons him back where he found him and starts making a blatant reference about Jason going to Hell. The angelic Pristine interrupts and calls out how this was a pointless cameo to justify advertising Jason on the cover, which came at the cost of continuing their very story. And at that point, readers stopped caring.

As Kamodious referenced, Jason was at the time starring in Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, otherwise known as Friday the 13th Part IX. Based on the screenplay, the comic is written by Andy Mangels and drawn by Cynthia Martin.

That’s how far down the pipeline we are. By this point, the movie franchise was in dire straits. By the time any comic company thinks of doing anything with Friday the 13th, we’re already at the ninth movie, which was the last Jason movie for eight years. The really bizarre one.

If you haven’t seen it or don’t remember, Jason Goes to Hell is the movie where the FBI finally decides to do something about Jason and blows him to kingdom come in the first few minutes, onlit turns out that he can’t be killed unless stabbed in the heart by another Voorhees (though the comic keeps spelling it “Vorhees”). So Jason’s heart hypnotizes the coroner into eating it and he goes around vomiting the heart into people’s throats to change hosts until he can find and kill the rest of his bloodline.

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It’s an example of knowing that you have to do something new and fresh, yet still driving way off the road. Also, if you’re all about drawings of bare asses, this is the comic for you!

But really, all anyone remembers Jason Goes to Hell for is that cameo at the end when Freddy Krueger pulls down Jason’s mask and cackles. That was the original “Nick Fury asks Tony Stark to join the Avengers” moment. It just, you know, took ten years, is all.

Topps didn’t want to wait to give us a big slasher icon crossover and while they didn’t get the rights to Freddy, they got the next best thing. Okay, they didn’t get Michael Meyers, but the next best thing after that. No, they didn’t get Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, but—Listen, they got Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, okay? More specifically, we got Jason vs. Leatherface, a three-part series by Nancy Collins, David Imhoff, and Jeff Butler.

Despite being released in 1995, the chronology is very choosy, ignoring the history of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre stuff to make sure Leatherface and his brothers Cook and Hitchhiker are both alive. As for Jason, this takes place after Part VI, where he’s chained to the bottom of Camp Crystal Lake. Some corporate types have the lake drained of all the toxic grossness and Jason goes with it. He kind of wanders around, kills a bunch of people on train, and eventually comes across Sawyerville, where Leatherface and Hitchhiker are stalking some poor soul. Jason ends up getting in a scrap with them, where he disarms Leatherface (not literally for once), kills their victim, and then – in a surprising act – hands Leatherface his chainsaw.

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There’s this feeling of acceptance between the two parties, leading to Jason being practically adopted into their family. This leads to a really awesome moment where Cook asks him his name. Since these guys need to start calling him Jason and he doesn’t actually speak, Collins goes about it in a clever way.

Through this partnership, we see the differences. While Jason is a ruthless murderer, he isn’t so much a sadist, at least not as much as the Sawyer family. He’ll kill the victims, but Hitchhiker will get on his case for doing it too quickly and not torturing anyone. Mainly, Jason gets along with them due to the way he sees his younger self in Leatherface. For once, he feels sympathy and it drives him to hate Hitchhiker for constantly being such a dick. From there, it becomes Jason vs. the three brothers, where Leatherface will protect his family, even if he does show appreciation for Jason standing up for him.

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There wouldn’t be any more Jason comics for a decade until Avatar Press picked up the license in 2005. I had a lot of bad stuff to say about Avatar in the RoboCop article, but here, the ugly, mean-spirited, blood-and-chunks-covered style is a perfect home for Friday the 13th. If anything, it’s a fitting response to how most of the Friday the 13th movies were edited to oblivion by the MPAA to hide all the gore. Now we can see Jason punch a guy in the head so hard that it comes out his ass!

Avatar mostly released a bunch of one-shots, starting with Friday the 13th Special by Brian Pulido and Mike Wolfer. The Avatar Friday the 13th comics have some actual strong ideas mixed in there, but they also rely on doing the same thing over and over again...much like the movies, but in a different way. While every single comic of theirs has at least one softcore sex scene, there’s also a constant theme of the 1% screwing things up for everyone. Like in Friday the 13th Special, it’s about the children of the man who previously owned Camp Crystal Lake. The daughter, a shrewd businesswoman, insists on not letting that land go to waste despite the piles and piles of dead bodies showing why that’s a bad idea.

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To be fair, she goes about it the right way. If Jason’s hanging around the woods, just hire a ton of military guys to take him out. That basically took care of Jason in the very beginning of the ninth movie, didn’t it? Too bad being in a comic book has caused him to go through a major power creep, and he’s now able to power through having a huge chunk of him blown off by a grenade launcher, as it just heals up in seconds. Jason’s way too overpowered and that continues on for the next year of comics.

Pulido and Wolfer would get back together to do a three-parter called Bloodbath and it’s easily the best thing to come out of the Avatar run. It has some serious dialogue issues, but the basic idea could have been the basis for a Friday the 13th movie and I would be totally okay with it. It actually comes across as a prototype for Cabin in the Woods.

It has to do with Camp Crystal Lake being opened yet again, this time with ten teen counselors brought in early to get acquainted a day or so before the campers are said to show up. Their boss is Kevin Carny, a kindly southern guy who appears to be really laid back about everything. He wants everyone to be responsible during the daytime, but at night, they’re welcome to enjoy the hot tub, an excess of beer, and each other’s naked company. The counselors all hit it off and immediately pair up with no problem. In fact, they pair up a little too easily, like they were handpicked. Discovered through some really unnatural dialogue, they all come to realize that all ten of them are orphans and have no families. Strange. It’s almost like if something were to happen to them all, nobody would really care enough to look into it.

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Naturally, there’s more to Carny than meets the eye. Much like in Jason X, the military and corporations are very into the idea of bringing Jason in for the sake of studying his healing factor and weaponizing him. The camp is nothing more than bait. It helps that the protagonists, Violet and Rich, are actually fairly likeable and relatable compared to every other human character in Avatar’s comics. You end up getting a story of the would-be victims vs. the military vs. the unstoppable killer. It actually has a really good ending too, which will be ruined months later.

Around this time, Avatar released the Jason X Special by Pulido and Sebastian Fiumara. Yes, a Jason X comic. The movie is already a few years old at this point and I don’t think anyone cared about it enough to clamor for more Jason X in any form, but here we are. As it turns out, when Uber Jason was blasted to a lake on Earth Two at the end of the movie, he was really back on the original Earth. A woman named Kristen, one of the few remaining humans on the planet, tricked the ship into turning back to Earth for the sake of getting her hands on Uber Jason.

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Kristen’s boyfriend Neil is dying and she needs some Voorhees DNA to potentially cure him. Even though she is able to capture Uber Jason with some nanites, you can imagine that this is a bad idea. It becomes a big, confusing mess, where Pamela Voorhees goes from being a voice in Jason’s head to being a machine ghost able to control all the nanites, leading to lots of human-like androids being slaughtered. Uber Jason is shot into space, where he stumbles across a party-based space ship.

That leads us right into the two-parter Jason vs. Jason X by Mike Wolfer. Really? Is that even a contest? That’s like having the regular version of the Hulk fight a super-pissed off Hulk. The story of this one is more contrived than even the beginning of Jason Takes Manhattan. So there’s a piece of Jason’s skull and hockey mask from the Jason X movie that wasn’t part of the regeneration process that created Uber Jason. When that ship was blown up, the chunk of skull floated around in space until – TOTAL COINCIDENCE – it now drifts into the very party ship where Uber Jason is currently slaughtering everyone. The ship’s cloning machine builds a new body out of dead victims and Jason is reborn! Fully clothed too, which I suppose I shouldn’t be complaining about. I can live my entire life without seeing his hockey stick.

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It takes the whole first issue for the two Jasons to meet up and the entire second issue is them fighting while anyone who crosses paths with the brawl gets chopped up. The fight brings them to Earth Two, where, big surprise, Uber Jason wins. He tears Jason’s brain out, shoves it into his own brain, and reminisces about his mother. He’s also chilling out in the woods near a lake, so even though the Jason X Special changed up the movie’s ending, this comic puts it back the way the writers found it. You know, just in case they were to ever make another Jason X movie.

The last book from Avatar is Friday the 13th: Fearbook by Mike Wolfer and Sebastian Fiumara. It’s a direct follow-up to Bloodbath and is especially pointless. It’s basically about killing off anyone who survived Bloodbath without any real drama. Sure, it makes sense to have the government people behind the events of that story taken out, but there’s no actual plot. Jason just effortlessly kills everyone for two dozen pages.

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Also, the art is really bad in the sequential sense. It seems to go from point A to C from panel to panel with no sensical movement. For instance, in Bloodbath, they were able to stop Jason by freezing him. The only reason he was able to escape was Violet’s doing. Makes 100% perfect sense that they’d just try that again, right?

And now Jason is able to shrug it off completely to the point that there’s no sign of him being frozen one panel later. What’s up with that?

The ending suffers from the same problem. Violet is backed up to a window and Jason is coming. She decides to take her chances and makes a leap of faith, hoping the trees will break her fall. She jumps and the perspective makes it look like she’s at least ten feet away from the window. Suddenly, Jason has her by the neck and drags her back in.

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Anyway, Jason would then move on to the next publisher, Wildstorm, in 2007. Wildstorm mainly gave us a bunch of two-parters, but started it with a six-issue miniseries simply called Friday the 13th by Justin Gray, Jimmy Palmiotti, Adam Archer, and Peter Guzman.

For the most part, it’s a basic, by-the-numbers Friday the 13th story in comic form, just handled competently. They’re reopening Camp Crystal Lake again. A handful of teens are brought in to clean up the cabins. Sex and drugs and beer are had. Jason shows up and starts killing people. Same old shit.

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At least the cast of victims isn’t so bad. They aren’t great, but they at least have more personality and dimension than the characters in the Avatar Press comics, easy as that is to do. The drawback is that for the sake of conflict, they’re almost all over-the-top in terms of being assholes. Like there’s a nerdy hippy guy who looks to be potentially psychotic and everyone shits on him for zero reason. For one of the characters it makes sense, since it’s established that she’s had to put up with his company for years and she’s a terrible person, but everyone else snaps at him like he’s Donnie from Big Lebowski.

The comic plays up the supernatural aspects of Friday the 13th more than just Jason surviving taking a machete to the neck. Not only do they establish that the lake is haunted by the ghosts of a hundred murdered children, but the final issue even explains that the area is literally cursed due to some settlers murdering a Native American shaman.

Otherwise, it’s nothing special.

Marc Andreyko and Shawn Moll give us Pamela’s Tale, a two-parter where Pamela Voorhees explains her life story to a camp counselor while giving her a ride to Camp Crystal Lake. Naturally, she also murders her, but still keeps telling the story, mainly about raising Jason and how she’s been out to kill anyone she feels is responsible for his death.

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We also see Jason’s father depicted as a drunken wife-beater and massive dude (he had to inherit it from somewhere) who is killed because Pamela’s afraid that if she tells him she’s pregnant, he’ll beat her so badly that she’ll have a miscarriage. Oh, and she’s also whispering conversations with “Jason” much like she does at the end of the first movie.

Jason’s birth defects are explained both between his father’s treatment of his mother and the fact that Pamela is constantly in places filled with cigarette smoke. It hits comedic levels once we see the doctor smoking a cigarette while delivering the baby. That’s dark as hell but I had to laugh.

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Jason Aaron and Adam Archer team up for How I Spent My Summer Vacation, another two-parter. I’m not sure if this is the best Friday the 13th comic, but it’s definitely the most fun. It’s about a little boy named Davie Falkner who is at summer camp. At Camp Crystal Lake. They opened the goddamn thing AGAIN! CRIPES! Anyway, Davie has a bone disorder that gives him a malformed head and will likely kill him in five years. While he has normal intelligence, he looks an awful lot like Jason’s young self, albeit with hair. He’s constantly teased for his looks, but that’s a picnic compared to having Jason Voorhees show up to kill everyone.

After lots of campers, councilors, and cops are killed, Jason picks up Davie and drags him away, kicking and screaming. The only other survivor is the sheriff, who was so hopped up on meth that he accidentally shot up two councilors, and then hacked them up with a machete to cover his tracks and blame it on Jason. Finding out that Davie’s still alive makes him want to make sure he can kill the last witness.

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Meanwhile, we get what is essentially a Batman and Robin origin story with Jason and Davie. It’s awesome and I wish it was longer. Jason never speaks or makes any gestures, but he keeps Davie safe out of feeling like a kindred spirit. Jason would go kill people having a picnic, wrap their food in a blanket, return to Davie, and throw it to him. Davie goes from being dragged around against his will to following his new hero.

Davie idolizes Jason for being like him, only able to not take shit from anyone who would bully him. That Jason is an even bigger bully than anyone else is lost on Davie, but it’s nice to see Jason make a connection for once in his after-life. Plus with the comedic psycho sheriff, Jason gets to actually play the role of anti-hero here. Granted, he still kills so many undeserving people, but the book is still sort of cute.

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Yet another two-parter comes in the form of Bad Land, which is by Ron Marz and Mike Huddleston. It’s about two different stories from different times that run parallel. One is a present-day story about a trio of hikers who come across a cabin in the middle of a huge storm and become victims of Jason. The other takes place a couple centuries earlier, where three fur trappers enter a teepee to escape a similar storm and come across a Native American woman and her baby. Horrible things happen to the woman and her child, shortly before her husband arrives. They blow his face off with a rifle shot and he runs off, only to plot his revenge.

Yep. We have the Proto-Jason. It isn’t outright said whether he’s just super pissed enough to fight through the wound or if he’s a full-on murder zombie, but considering he lacks the wound when we see his rampage, it looks like the latter.

Huh. Wonder whatever happened to that guy.

The last normal type of Jason comic released by Wildstorm is The Abuser & the Abused by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Andy B. Andy B’s art makes this easily the best-looking Friday the 13th comic by a landslide. Lot of great expressions and action in there.

The issue is kind of an alternate take on How I Spent My Summer Vacation. It deals with a girl who is constantly abused. Her boyfriend beats her, her classmates make fun of her, her father and stepmother bully her, and no authority figure will help her in any way. She takes it upon herself to strike back against anyone who’s wronged her and part of her plan involves luring her boyfriend to Camp Crystal Lake (which is not open for once. Thank God). Then when Jason appears to do what Jason does best, the girl gets mad because this is her kill and the two murderers throw down. Totally worth checking out for the fantastic fight scene.

Now we get to the grand finale in the form of two six-issue miniseries. Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash started in early 2008, based on a script treatment for a sequel to the Freddy vs. Jason movie that brings the Evil Dead hero into the mix that would never come to be. The Jeff Katz screenplay is adapted by James Kuhoric with art by Jason Craig. It’s generally okay. It’s nothing especially great or especially awful. It comes up with a satisfying enough story that brings together the three horror icons, has them play off each other, and gives us a big enough body count.

Freddy is able to convince Jason to do his bidding by banging his mother. At least, that’s what Jason sees in his nightmare, where Freddy acts like his new step-father and has “Pamela” tell Jason to listen to his authority. Freddy wants him to fetch the Necronomicon and wouldn’t you know it, Ash Williams is working at a nearby hardware store for the holidays.

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What’s great about it is that we actually have a real protagonist to cheer for, who we know has enough plot armor to stay alive. The Freddy vs. Jason movie didn’t have anyone nearly as likeable as Ash. The main drawback is that Jason is the third wheel, mostly overshadowed by the other two co-stars. This becomes a bigger problem in the sequel, which I’ll get to in just a bit.

Sorry, I was wrong. The main drawback is that despite Jason Craig’s art starting incredibly strong, it becomes rushed to hell by the time he hits the final issue. That’s too bad, since the final battle between the two is excellent outside of that. Freddy is pumped up with power from the Necronomicon and Jason is maskless and replaced his dismembered hand with a machete. Ash is bemused, noting the lack of originality.

By the end, Freddy and Jason are both defeated for the time being, but the Necronomicon opens to a page that’s very reminiscent of the movie poster for Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, only this time, Ash is leading the siege.

That leads us to Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: Nightmare Warriors by the same creative team, though with Cruddie Torian doing a bit of fill-in work. Sadly, Jason Craig’s art takes a huge dive, even worse than before. Really, the whole comic is a gigantic mess, making it a perfect Friday the 13th comic bookend to whatever the hell was going on with that Satan’s Six issue.

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It’s a real shame too, because I absolutely love the setup. It’s such a brilliant concept for a climactic finale to Freddy and Jason’s respective series. See, Ash is invited to join a support group of sorts made up of those who have survived encounters with Freddy and/or Jason. So you have a group made up of Maggie Burroughs (Freddy’s Dead), Dr. Neil Gordon (Nightmare on Elm Street 3), Steven Freeman (Jason Goes to Hell), Stephanie Kimble (Steven’s baby daughter from that movie all grown up), Alice Johnson (Nightmare on Elm Street 4 and 5), Jacob Johnson (Alice’s son, also grown up), Tina Shepard (Friday the 13th Part VII), and Rennie Wickham (Friday the 13th Part VIII). Then waiting in the shadows is maverick survivor and quasi-hero of the Friday the 13th franchise, Tommy Jarvis, who wants to take out Jason on his own terms.

Also awesome is Jason’s redesign. For the first half, at least.

After all the bullshit he’s been through fighting Freddy and Ash in the last book, Jason is barely holding together. He’s got so much battle damage that even if he’s freakishly strong, he looks like’s seconds away from falling apart. Between his jaw being completely fleshless and the bottom part of his hockey mask before destroyed, he’s got this badass skull goalie thing going on.

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Then Freddy ruins it by making Jason his general and using the Necronomicon to amp up Jason's appearance, cleaning him up and fixing his disfigurements. He also gives him long, black hair, making him look like a generic 90s vigilante. This also allows him to speak for once when he has his final battle with Tommy Jarvis.

Certainly better than, “HRMM!” at least.

As I said, the book goes completely full-on nuts, especially when it comes to Maggie Burroughs. She is actually Freddy’s daughter and killed him in the sixth Elm Street movie (the last canon one before Freddy vs. Jason). Here, she’s secretly evil and is working for her father. I guess they can get away with it because she’s the hero of the most hated Nightmare on Elm Street, but it’s never explained why she’s suddenly evil. Then not only does she start dressing like a sexy X-Men supervillain, but she starts making out with her father. And he puts his hand down her pants while grabbing her boob with the other. What. The. Fuck?

read more: Nightmare on Elm Street Comics - A Nightmarish History Lesson

Anyway, she’s crushed by a tank a couple of issues later while fighting Jason in the Oval Office. Strange, strange comic. The book has a lot of big ideas, but it’s completely incomprehensible.

What I find interesting is the ending. Freddy’s attempt to cause Hell on Earth via the Necronomicon goes sour and they give him the most final death possible. He’s stripped of his powers, leaving a naked human form, begging for his life. Ash shoots him with his boomstick, killing him. Then some really ill-explained and badly-set-up time-travel happens where the warrant for his arrest from decades ago is now correctly signed, meaning he’ll never become the dream demon and so many deaths are negated. Not only is Freddy done, but he never really started in the first place!

Jason, on the other hand, is stabbed through the chest by Stephanie (which is supposed to be the one thing that can totally kill him for good) and Tommy chops his head off, but his body is missing anyway because one day he’s going to go to space and God forbid we mess around with continuity!

Gotta protect the sanctity of Jason X, man.

That was the last we’ve seen of Jason Voorhees in comic form and there’s no sign of him coming back any time soon. Despite being such a cinematic icon, there’s only so much you can do with the character. He’s a walking plot device who isn’t allowed to be anything more, nor should he ever be. He’s just an excuse for shock value and mainstream comics have already gotten to that level of mean-spirited violence, making him nothing but obsolete.

Poor guy. Finally DC Comics is about constantly tearing people’s arms off and Jason doesn’t get to play.

Gavin Jasper thinks it’s fitting that Jason is a goalie, considering he's constantly out to stop people from scoring. Follow him on Twitter!

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Feature Gavin Jasper

Sep 13, 2019

Friday the 13th

Horror Movies

from Books https://ift.tt/2AevHhN

[thedeaditeslayer]

Bruce Campbell Calls Hosting ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’ A ‘No-Brainer,’ Pans Hollywood’s Lack Of Originality.

This interview includes a hint of more “Evil Dead” but for what we would like you to consider is to take it with a grain of salt. The interview covers various topics but mostly Ripley’s Believe it or Not.

Over the course of his storied career, actor Bruce Campbell has brought to life many memorable, colorful characters. As the definitive character-actor-trapped-in-a-leading-man’s-body, he’s portrayed Elvis in the campy Bubba Ho-Tep, Ronald Reagan in Fargo, Sam Axe in Burn Notice, and is, perhaps, best known as the Deadite-killing Ash Williams in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead franchise.

As the Travel Channel prepares to relaunch Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!, Campbell finds himself in the role of host, introducing us to a fresh round of the spectacular and amazing. Over the course of 10 episodes, he’ll invite viewers on a journey to explore the lives of people capable of incredible things.

“Shooting this iconic series in the Ripley’s warehouse was actually unbelievable,” said Campbell. “I was blown away by the treasures that unveil a fascinating time capsule into the past and present. Fans are not going to be disappointed when they see the scope of wonderful and weird stories we reveal every week.”

Bruce Campbell was groovy enough to get on the phone with me and talk about his new gig with the Ripley’s relaunch, the fates of some of his iconic characters, and the lack of originality in Hollywood — all with the grace to forgive my fanboying.

Kevin Tall: Hey Bruce! I appreciate you taking some time to talk to me.

Bruce Campbell: I happened to be in the neighborhood so I thought I’d step in.

KT: I usually make an effort to at least pretend to be professional but I’m not sure I’m going to pull it off today.

BC: That’s exactly right.

KT: I do want to say it’s an honor to talk to you and I promise I’ll do my best to keep my inner fanboy in check.

BC: Very good.

KT: Can I call you ‘El Jefe’?

BC: Whatever you’d like, sir.

KT: Groovy. Alright. So, coming soon to a cable network near you, you’re hosting the newest incarnation of ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!’ on the Travel Channel. How did you come to be attached to the project?

BC: Things come across the old desk, you know, and you evaluate them. And this was a no-brainer. I still have the Ripley’s book, the red cloth-covered book with those strange illustrations of people doing crazy stuff inside. As a kid, I had it on a shelf so I’m like, ‘Yeah I know Ripley’s.’

And I haven’t done a show like this in a while; I’ve hosted stuff. Back in Detroit, I got my Screen Actor’s Guild card doing training films for industrials, for Chrysler, and some of the other companies. Now I’m back doing it again, so here I am… I guess, showing people, in this case, it’s not about the cross-section of a Chrysler car seat but people doing extraordinary things.

KT: Ah, cool. Part of me thought this revival of Ripley’s could have just been a thinly-veiled attempt at revenge on Dean Cain for stealing the television role of Superman out from under your chin in the 90s.

BC: No, no revenge necessary on Mr. Cain. I see him at conventions all the time.

KT: While I do feel you have the superior jawline, I was a huge fan of ‘The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.’ There have been several Supermen but there was only one Brisco County. Er, two, if you count his dad.

BC: Anyone can play Superman.

KT: Would you ever consider reprising the role of Brisco?

BC: Brisco would be fine. You could do Brisco Rides Again. He started as a lawyer and then someone has to get killed. I’ll put the spurs back on, sure.

KT: So I got to see a screener of the first episode of Ripley’s. I have an idea if you’re open to suggestion.

BC: OK.

KT: Do a follow up in which you balance on a slack line while swallowing a sword and someone throws playing cards at you from a ladder balanced on someone else’s chin.

BC: [Laughs] I think you’ve got it. I think you should work for the Travel Channel.

KT: So your parts were shot on location at the Ripley’s warehouse in Orlando.

BC: Yes, yes, we shot at THE warehouse.

KT: Did you get to see anything amazing or… unbelievable?

BC: You know, the warehouse, where would you start? It is the closest we have to one of those Indiana Jones-type warehouses. It’s probably the most richly appointed warehouses in the world, I would say. They’ve collected for a hundred years. I can’t think of anyone else, maybe the Smithsonian, but Ripley’s is probably a close second. Ripley’s might have more stuff than the Smithsonian, that would be a fun one to test.

KT: Which do you think would have more body parts?

BC: Well, Ripley’s would have more body parts.

KT: OK, but the Smithsonian does have John Dillinger’s, well, you know.

BC: So the rumor goes.

KT: As they say. So, speaking of ‘Believe It or Not!,’ I still can’t believe you retired iconic character, Ash Williams. Are you sticking to that? No way I can talk you into reconsidering?

BC: Yeah, I’m sticking to that; it gets easier every year.

KT: [Laughs] Fair enough.

BC: I’m still doing video games, I’m doing voices for Ash. I’m just not going to grovel in the blood anymore.

KT: I think that’s fair. It’s not retiring the character, just a retirement plan.

BC: I’m retiring from certain types of roles, ones that require looking at tennis balls on sticks.

KT: I’m excited to see you’ve got the paperback for ‘Hail to the Chin’ coming out; I was a big fan of ‘If Chins Could Kill.’ Although when you were teasing that on social media, I think a couple of fans interpreted that as a little bit of foreshadowing of a new gig for Ash.

BC: That’s fine. Fans are always going to do that. Everyone’s a genius, everyone’s got opinions and the internet fans the flames. No, it’s all good. They’re going to see different versions, they’re going to be seeing more ‘Evil Dead,’ too. We’re not done with the ‘Evil Dead’ saga, more stories to tell.

KT: Do you think Fede Alvarez might return?

BC: I don’t know, Fede’s a big Hollywood director now. I don’t know if Fede needs this. We’ll have to see.

KT: Everyone needs a passion project.

BC: Fede had it. Fede came and pitched his version of ‘Evil Dead.’

KT: Any juicy tidbits you want to tease from the ‘Requiem For Ash’ Edition?

BC: It’s a fuller explanation of the birth, life, and death of ‘Ash vs. Evil Dead’ and then the ultimate retirement of that character. It’s a little more of an essay approach, it’s a little more esoteric.

KT: Psychologically, what is it about Ash Williams that inspires such devotion from fans?

BC: Because he is the fans, the fans are him. Ash has no skills, Ash doesn’t come from another planet, he comes from Michigan. He’s the guy you want in the foxhole, but he probably got low SAT scores. So people watching him, I think they root for him because they’re like, ‘Damn, that’s like my neighbor. That’s like if my neighbor decided to save the world from evil.’ Kind of like that. That’s how I look at it and that’s how we played it. That’s why it was worth bringing the guy back 48 years later to try it again… He’s the ultimate anti-hero, anti in that he can’t even get out of bed, you know?

KT: He comes across as an oafish, ill-mannered lout as well.

BC: Of course, but you know what? He was written in an ancient book, so there’s more to him than just the trailer park guy. That’s what was fun exploring.

KT: The prophecy of the ultimate average guy.

BC: Exactly.

KT: Got it. You’ve had a number of memorable, colorful roles over the years, from Ash to Brisco, Autolycus to Sam Axe, even a fictionalized version of yourself in ‘My Name Is Bruce’ (shout out to Guan Di, the patron saint of bean curd). Is there one, in particular, you’ve enjoyed playing the most, above all others?

BC: Elvis was pretty fun. I think most American males would have enjoyed playing that part. Playing President Reagan on ‘Fargo’ was fun, I used to imitate him with my buddy, John Cameron, who produced that show. In the ’80s we were both subjected to endless Reagan on television. That was fun.

KT: Have you been in that situation professionally, where you’ve gotten kind of a lousy role on a great show?

BC: Well, I’m better at saying no to stuff now, so hopefully I won’t find myself in that situation nearly as much.

KT: Circling back to Elvis, there was talk of a ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ follow-up years ago. What are the chances of that coming together?

BC: Zero. I’ve retired that character as well. I’ve notified Don Coscarelli and Joe Lansdale. You know, it’s Don Coscarelli’s project, he’s more than welcome to forge ahead. We couldn’t crack the script the way I saw it and we were going to come to loggerheads. I didn’t want to do that, so I backed out because I know now if the script isn’t where it needs to be, the movie will not get there either.

KT: Marlon Brando advised a young(er) Johnny Depp to play Hamlet before he got too old for the role. Are there any of those iconic types of roles you’d like to tackle?

BC: Of iconic people?

KT: Yeah. Just those classic roles from that sort of timeless production, like ‘Hamlet.’

BC: No. No, I don’t, because I like original stuff. I mean, if we’re going to remake something, let’s remake our own stuff. That’s the case with ‘Bubba Ho-Tep.’ It won’t be as good and people will only remember that you blew it on the second try.

KT: So the legacy of the project would be one of failure.

BC: You have to have original stuff out there to make up for the movies that have a seven, eight, and nine after them.

KT: The old maxim is that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

BC: Yes, except ‘Ripley’s Believe It or Not!’ There’s never too much of that.

KT: [Laughs] Well played, fair enough. Fan question: Who would win in a left-handed arm wrestling match, Ash Williams or Sam Axe?

BC: I don’t do those questions, because they’re hypothetical and impossible to answer.

KT: Can you hook me up with a six-pack of Ash’s favorite beer, Shemp’s?

BC: No, because it’s fake.

KT: Well, Bruce, I came here to ask questions and kick ass, and I’m all out of questions.

BC: Let’s go kick ass!

KT: Again, thanks so much for taking some time to talk with me and putting up with my silliness and unending admiration.

BC: Yeah, my friend. All good. Thank you, sir. Have a good day.

KT: Thanks, Bruce!

BC: Cheers.

[littlebitwriter]

WHAT I WANT FROM STAR WARS

I fell madly in love with Star Wars when I was five years old playing with the toys with my own Return of The Jedi lunchbox. So my love of Star Wars goes way back and it was one of my first loves next to superheroes. With The Skywalker Saga officially coming to an end this December in The Rise of Skywalker I am highly anticipating the film and am very excited. In the meantime, I’ve been watching the Original Trilogy as well as the pilot of The Mandalorian on Disney + which I quite liked. However while rewatching The Original Trilogy, episodes of The Clone Wars, Rebels, Force Awakens and The Last Jedi as well as the pilot of The Mandalorian, I came to the conclusion of what I want from Star Wars moving forward.

I want Star Wars stories made for people who love Star Wars. Where there can be deep-cut Star Wars lore references and callbacks with solid characters and interesting plots that can also be accessible for new audiences. I want stories that show different sides of the Star Wars universe and that expand the context of the original films and the universe overall like the great EU novels and comics of yesteryear. For creators, writers and directors to do something inventive that does something really different with Star Wars by taking risks and trying something new with it. To explore more of the moral ambiguity of what war is for people on the battleground as opposed to the big scale good vs. evil thing. I want stories that are smaller in scale and take risks and are for true fans of Star Wars. I want stories that can be told from any pocket or time period of the Star Wars universe that are really, really good. Stories that aren’t worried about appealing to everybody. The Star Wars universe is absolutely limitless full of characters and infinite story potential for creators to drive into several new avenues. I want creators to take what is recognizable aesthetically and take the time to build something exciting and new out of it. Where it’s still in that world and it’s still Star Wars but it’s playing with different types of genres and doing different things.

I personally am hoping that moving forward those spearheading Star Wars at Disney should use a lot of side canon as inspiration for the future of the films (such as books from the Legends banner) books like John Ostrander and Jan Duursema’s Legacy series and shades of some things like Dark Empire but pushing it towards the future. Using canon that is similar to the world and stories you know but reinvent it in a fresh and exciting way that shocks and grabs people.

Telling different and exciting stories with new and unique characters who are equally as interesting and complex as the ones from the original trilogy. Which is extremely tricky but it is the thing that will keep the franchise of Star Wars alive.

With things like the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney + limited series coming out soon which I am very, very excited about. I want there to be more of an exploration through different parts of the Star Wars universe past, present and future. There could be potential for more Disney + live-action and animated Star Wars shows and I think there’s a lot of Star Wars stories moving forward that could benefit from that treatment since Star Wars is so serialized. Seeing a live-action Star Wars television series week to week with each episode feeling like a mini-movie sounds like the most genius thing in the world and that is why The Mandalorian (from what I’ve heard haven’t seen the second or third episode) is having such an impact. From what I’ve watched it is something that feels like Star Wars but is also its own thing and I personally feel like that dial can be pushed even forward for other Star Wars things moving forward. I haven’t seen a lot of original content on Disney + but it feels like a very family-friendly streaming service in its presentation of certain things which I am fine with but I personally would like to see some Star Wars stories go into some darker territory but still be Star Wars if that makes sense. To play with challenging themes and ideas and make you think about things on a deeper level, which I am not saying Star Wars doesn’t do, it totally does. However I think there is tremendous storytelling potential for future Star Wars stories. Where there can be more adult and mature themes, experimentation, risks in storytelling choices, while still feeling like classic Star Wars. Where it is about human emotions and the human condition but is also Star Wars. Exploring moral ambiguities and the middle ground between the light side and the dark side of the Force. More mature, complex and adult oriented Star Wars stories. So very experimental different kinds of Star Wars stories. Stories that are darker and grittier that play around in different genres but also capture the spirit of what makes Star Wars what it is. Boundary breaking Star Wars projects that disintegrate the typical formulas. So my dream is for there to be stories that don’t just repeat the greatest hits, that show us new locales, new characters and take us on new adventures.

For fans and lovers of Star Wars, if you haven’t already, check out this brilliant article by James Whitbrook on Gizmodo from 2016 where he discusses and analyzes the brilliant artifact that is the Star Wars West End Games RPG and how to write good Star Wars after I read that when I was sixteen, I was writing my own personal Star Wars stories nonstop just to entertain myself. :)

https://www.google.com/amp/s/io9.gizmodo.com/the-secrets-of-writing-good-star-wars-according-to-wes-1765739282/amp

Enjoy The Day Everyone, May The Force Be With You All.

-LittleBitWriter (11/22/19)

[jaetros]

Why I hate Danganronpa V3′s Ending

First, PLEASE know this is my opinion and I’m trying to make everyone understand why some of us dislike the ending.

Kodaka initially stated V3 would have no connection to the pervious games, which was the expectation I had throughout. But when Chapter 5′s remembering light revealed they were all students from Hope’s Peak and was the next saga, I actually became excited seeing them talk about hope! At the same time, I was a little meh V3 was connected but didn’t bother anymore. Kodaka’s ‘lie’ was just to throw us off and get excited with the reveal, or so I thought. When it was revealed during Chapter 6 that the V3 cast had nothing to do with Hope’s Peak, I actually didn't mind. So Kodaka was true to his word after all, that V3 was a separate universe and I prefer it that way.

But BOOM, their backstories and personalities were fake, making everything a lie. I think it was fine to reveal their talents are fake but for their personality to be fake as well???? So it means all the characters we’ve come to know and love are completely not the real deal. I felt utterly cheated!! How can anyone who played the game NOT understand this part?! :/

The Gopher Plan backstory was really interesting and I was very disappointed it was discarded. Because all the designs were very futuristic including the school, so it made sense to me. When they found the Remembering Light machine in Chapter 6′s investigation, I already guessed their memories would be heavily altered, but for EVERYTHING to be fake??! I find the ending sooo stupid because it was just Reality TV. I did NOT expect it at all and there was NO hint of that prior. Was that the best scenario they could think of honestly?

Also, the fact that the school was called “Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles” or “Gifted Inmates Academy” had no weight behind it! It was theorised since the school looked like a prison cage and “juvenile/inmates” was in the school’s name, it was actually a prison that got built over by a school. We saw the school still in construction during the prologue, and the V3 cast was probably locked there for whatever sinister reasons they’ve committed originally. It was disappointing to see that the school’s name had no actual meaning to the overall plot. This is where all the fan theories sounded so much better...

It also felt like I was the audience in the final trial. Almost like a personal insult from Kodaka himself. I GET it and AGREE franchises shouldn’t go on forever or they become stale (Pokemon, Spongebob, Fairly Odd Parents, etc) but was this really the way to tell fans that? The ending felt like a big “F you” to all the fans who’ve kept asking for more Danganronpa even though it was supposed to end a long time ago. I know Kodaka said in an interview that the audiences in V3 and in real life are separate. But it still felt hurting because it ultimately said the past games were all fiction, don’t ever say that it’s fiction within fiction! It SUCKS honestly to know all the past games were fake too. :’( How is everyone not bothered by this fact? I hope with all my heart that if they ever make some sort of sequel that it was just a lie by Tsumugi.

Some of you might argue that the ending fits the game’s theme of Truth vs Lies but there was definitely other scenarios to do where it didn’t involve the 4th wall breaking. I really don’t like 4th wall breaking type of endings, and honestly it was the one that pissed me off the most. If they hadn’t done such a thing I wouldn’t be as mad as I am. While I mostly dislike it, I admit having the characters’ talents and personalities being fake is still a good concept, and should have been where the line was drawn. But nope, they had to break the 4th wall.. :/

Ultimately I wonder if the ending had a message directed to fans, that Kodaka is saying to stop asking for more games? Maybe even to stop living in fiction and get on with reality? Just what..?

I’m still salty about Kaede dying as I really wanted a female protagonist. She was the BEST protagonist we’ve ever had and they killed her off in Chapter 1 *sobs.* It was a good twist I’ll admit, but maybe it should have happened in Chapter 5 instead, felt too soon for Kaede to go. I’ve even wished a reverse had happened because I don’t like Saihara as the protagonist, sorry he’s too much of a wimp and uninteresting compared to Kaede. A detective as the assumed main character who ends up committing the murder he was investigating would be such a good twist!! Like come on..

Other than that, I felt everything in V3 from the characters, backgrounds, interface, music and artwork improved SO MUCH from the past games! In fact, I loved everything untill the last trial. The ending just RUINED the whole game for me. :/

[memoirsofagenie]

Treading in Hasekura’s Footsteps: AICR’s “Black-Tie” Annual Circolo della Caccia Dinner

by: Genie

 “The world listens more to witnesses than it does the masters, yet if it listens more to the masters, it is because they are, above all, witnesses.”

-- Pope Paul V

      Among the recurrent, “Black-Tie” happenings at the prestigious Circolo della Caccia, are the yearly “Serata del Cinghiale” (Boar Soirée) at the end of February, the Christmas  Dinner, and the introduction of  new members, with a speech given by the youngest member at the end of the evening.  However, for almost a decade now, the American International Club of Rome (AICR) members have been able to also partake in this charming rituality of olden flair thanks to the kind dinner invitation of M.E., both an AICR Board Member and a Circolo della Caccia member, naturally!

     During this magical January evening – and the upcoming 2013 edition will be very special, for it falls on AICR’s 60th Anniversary– guests are greeted by the heraldic eagles and  dragons as they walk through the imposing colonnade and past the romantic nymphaeum of Palazzo Borghese, only to step into one of Rome’s oldest –if not, the oldest- elevators and climb to the “piano nobile,” where this intertwined, utterly spellbinding Chinese box catapults them even further back in time. Amidst the black-and-white regal portrait sequence of the illustrious guests that have entered the Circolo at some point in their lives, the spectacular frescoes and the intricate backdrop of gold-leaf covered stuccoes of the dining hall, the elegance of the maitre d’ and of the waiters in traditional livery are merely the last details that hark back to princely times, heightening the pervading nocturnal, dreamy state and momentarily removing people from reality.

     Matter-of-factly, it is known that Rome is a city where history is embedded within history. The Circolo della Caccia is no exception to this rule, thus making it almost impossible for the public curiosities not to be titillated. History also helps to predict the future, albeit in this specific case, knowing the history can surely, if anything, make the dinner experience more enjoyable altogether. For this reason, it was imperative to embark on a virtual time-machine to discover some interesting, behind-the-scenes details of one of the Eternal City’s (many) best-kept secrets.

     The Circolo della Caccia (literally, “Hunting Club”), is undoubtedly one of the oldest, most exclusive clubs of Rome. Founded in 1869 on an initiative of Prince Francesco Borghese, its original denomination used to be Circolo di San Carlo, due to its first, modest location. Upon inauguration, it was located in front of the San Carlo church, at the crossroads between Via del Corso and Via delle Carrozze. It then moved to Palazzo Verospi, on the other side of Via del Corso, and changed its name to Circolo della Caccia, in view of the large presence of members of the Roman Society for fox hunting, a “sport” introduced by Lord George Stanhope, Count of Chesterfield and practiced by the aristocracy in the Roman countryside, concurrent to the birth of the Circolo itself. On this note, a magnificent canvas originally donated to King Umberto II, probably the most representative one currently displayed at the Circolo, serves as testimony of this now forbidden pastime, which is nonetheless still simulated in the outskirts of town.

     Going back to the chronological overview of the Circolo, before reaching its current site, it relocated two more times: first, to the now-demolished Palazzo Bonaccorsi, lastly to Palazzo Marignoli. Finally, on August 31, 1922, it moved to its definitive location, which coincided with the former rooms of Paolina Borghese (Napoleon’s sister) at the eponymous palace in the old ‘rione’ (neighborhood) Campo Marzio: Palazzo Borghese, otherwise known as the “Cembalo” (Harpsichord), due to its exterior shape reminiscent of the Baroque instrument.  

     Having unveiled this greatness, a question lurks beneath the collective minds: How does one join the Circolo della Caccia? The main pre-requisite for membership is to belong to nobility. An important founding member was writer Gabriele D’Annunzio, who had also been admitted on the basis of his Gold Medal to Military Valor. An aspiring member should also be referred by three other members and has to undergo the traditional practice of the white balls vs. the black balls. The former indicate a positive vote, whereas the latter indicate a negative vote. Each negative vote annuls five positive votes. Hence, it comes as no surprise to learn that its honorary members include personalities ranging from King Juan Carlos of Spain, Prince Charles of Wales and his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, all the way to King Albert II of Belgium.  By the same token, it is equally normal to note that the Club has issued quite a few exemplary rejections, Paul Getty being a case in point. To this day membership is almost entirely male. The library, the game room and the reading room are off-limits to women, who are nevertheless admitted– escorted– to the guest quarters.

      Given these premises, and realizing the privilege it is to cross the threshold of the Circolo for even just a few hours, this article is only brought to completion by asking some questions to Mr. E., without whom the idea of writing it might not have materialized in the first place:

Mr. E. when did you first join the Circolo della Caccia? I joined the Circolo della Caccia during my freshman year at Harvard. The year was 1978. My grandfather was the former President of the Circolo as well as my godfather. 

Would you care to share an anecdote (some anecdotes) you are most fond of concerning the Circolo della Caccia? I have many fond moments at the Circolo. The fondest one however was to hear my son give his acceptance speech as a new Circolo della Caccia member two years ago! 

What prompted you -rather, gave you the idea- of organizing a Circolo della Caccia dinner for AICR members? Quite a few years ago, I thought it would be a fun idea to celebrate the holidays by having a black-tie dinner and having as guest our own Honorary President and/or VPs. If I recall initially, we had just one Ambassador. After a while two came.

Do you have a favorite ‘edition’? If yes, could you describe why it is your favorite? Last year, for the first time in AICR history (and probably in Rome's history!), AICR was able to have ALL the US Ambassadors in Italy (many readers may not know this, but we have three). It was absolutely a smashing success! This type of event is what makes AICR so unique. It is not often that this can be pulled off. In today's society, when everyone is always in a rush and often does not have the time or patience to "get dressed up," I think the beautiful clothes worn by our guests (ladies are often in very elegant long dresses!) wonderfully blends in the rich historical surroundings of the Circolo. A lot of thanks go to our Manager who always "manages" to organize a perfect seating and ensure that the dinner goes smoothly. Also, thanks go to our President who always "wows" us with the wonderful bouquets that are on the table and that are given to our Very Important Guests of Honor. §§§ 

     In closing, another important episode haunts the Circolo’s saga. In the fall of 1615, the Japanese-Christian Ambassador Hasekura Tsunenaga entered Rome after an extenuating sea-odyssey that had begun two years earlier, by orders of Shogun Date Masamune. Masamune was the King of the Japanese city of Sendai, and Hasekura’s mission was to ask for Pope Paul V’s (Camillo Borghese) spiritual support, which would have helped the Shogun gain absolute power. The expedition made pit-stops in Acapulco and Madrid, crossing both the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean, before reaching Rome with its surviving crew (less than half of what it was at the beginning of the journey).  Hasekura finally met with Pope Paul V “Borghese” at the Quirinale, and his emaciated expression –as a result of the hardships endured at sea-  has been immortalized on yet another beautiful painting at the Circolo della Caccia, where he is depicted wearing his distinctive regalia. Hasekura finished his multiple diplomatic encounters by the end of December, and headed back to Japan on January 7, 1616.

     Over four centuries after Hasekura’s Roman visit, AICR members get to walk “backwards” in his footsteps, for January, contrary to the Nipponic Ambassador’s agenda, is the ideal month to be in Rome, marking the time to “witness” Pope Paul V’s “Borghese”  legacy, lavishly bequeathed through the Circolo della Caccia. Hence, of all of AICR’s special events, the Circolo della Caccia Dinner is one appointment –THE appointment– that should definitely not be missed.

 Rome, 13 December 2012

[danwhobrowses]

In Wake of the Alola League Results

Spoilers for Pokémon Sun and Moon Episode 139 below

Ash wins, and everyone is going mental and happy about it

but frankly, I’m not happy. Because it made no sense I’ve seen enough battles to be disappointed that Zoroark fell in less than 4 moves (look back at other battles, Hau’s Decidueye is felled by only 2 attacks cleanly landing), and I continue to be frustrated by the fact that Ash’s Pokémon take an unnatural amount of damage compared to his opponent. Sure if it’s some asshole you can feel the ‘will to win’, but Gladion’s a decent guy, doesn’t his Pokémon also have the ‘will to win’? His family is also watching after all...But I bet you don’t believe me when it comes to the damage tanking, so let’s pull out the abacus Gladion’s Lycanroc, his more experienced Lycanroc with 10 more defense stats and whose first loss only took place in the League against Kiawe’s Turtonator (his Pikachu-equivalent battler), took 3 Accel Rocks (40 damage a piece plus STAB but halved by defensive typing for 90), a single Bite (60 damage), damage from hurting itself in confusion (40 damage clean) and that finishing nonsense of Ash’s Lycanroc using counter on Gladion’s counter (which is by laws of the move is impossible but for purposes of debate that’s countering accel rock’s counter plus type advantage so that’s 640 since Ash’s Lycanroc doesn’t have the elevated attack stat) for 830 damage total Meanwhile Ash’s Lycanroc, took 2 normal Accel Rock counters (320 because of type advantage), a stone edge (75 by STAB but defensive typing), a Swords Dance-enhanced Outrage (120 plus doubling because of the 2-stage stat increase so 240) and then 2 more Swords Dance-enhanced counters, one for Bite (420 due to stat increase) and another Accel Rock (320 due to stat increase) which Lycanroc could somehow flip out of and stay on its feet despite both Counters being brutally clean hits. That value if you know your math is 1375, close to double the damage the losing side faced. And I know what you’re gonna say already ‘stats don’t count/moves don’t work the same way they do in games in anime’ - then why does Gladion use Swords Dance? The real thing is that Stats don’t count and Moves don’t work the same way as they do in games as they do For Ash Only. You can look at the tape, Ash used Breakneck Blitz to plow through a stronger Z-Move equally as immune to normal as normal is to ghost for an Electric Type while the Z-Move was happening, more times than not Ash just seems to somehow manage to ‘avoid’ Z-Moves being hit while his opponents have to sit and take it. And let’s talk about Electroweb, because it feels like they don’t know what it’s meant to do, Pikachu uses his to trap opponents in an electrical sticky spider’s web for direct hits rather than affect their speed, but he’s immune to such treatment when he wants to use it as a net to negate a Z-Move or a trampoline to Iron Tail Silvally for like the 5th hit of the battle (and let’s not get me started on how such things went down in Kalos, that is a saga of frustration)

but still, this is not the moment that was 22 years in the making. Ash has won a league and that’s what people will only ever focus on, but the reality is that Ash won a sham league anyone could and did sign up for (friendly reminder that Kahili in the games is in the Elite 4 and yet non-battlers like Lillie, Sophocles and Mallow made it farther than her) which was tailor made for Ash to win, the prize is literally to face a guy only he has reason to battle and his only real opposition was Kiawe - someone who the anime made the butt-end of too many jokes, Hau - who was introduced far too late and beaten by Ash before to neuter his chances, Guzma - rawr Ash must beat evil team guy to teach him better path and Gladion - the only proper rival in the series who has no plot reason to win since he should really be more occupied looking for his missing dad who he only recently surmised could still be alive. On top of that, Ash’s victory was done in a 3v3 match (the only 3v3 match as well) because Ash didn’t bother to have a full team in Alola, or even use the strongest Pokémon he has like he did in Sinnoh, additionally Ash used a Legendary that conveniently evolved into a powerhouse the night before. If you compare that to the struggles of Sinnoh or Kalos’ leagues then you see that they’re not even, all Ash did was really win the Alola power-equivalent to the Junior Cup in Unova, Alola’s league is the easiest League Ash has ever competed in and for this to be his first canon league victory is underwhelming

As I said in my Tinfoil Discussion on the matter, this does not feel like it should be Ash’s crowning achievement, nor would it be a fulfilling end to his story, Ash never really struggled to win the league, even the final battle was more a ‘aha gotcha’ which everybody politely clapped to, nobody off their feet like against Gary, Paul, Harrison, Tobias or Alain - way to sell the moment And now with Guzzlord’s late appearance we are likely gonna not have Ash vs Royal Mask - the reason the league was basically set up in the first place - and if we do it’s just gonna be on Melemele beach where it could’ve been without the entire league hoo-ha. I’m not angry (okay I’m a little angry but that’s the battle more than the outcome) I’m more disappointed that this is what we got. Tell any Pokémon fan 22 years ago that Ash wins his first proper league in a series where the focus is off battling and Ash’s main schtick is going to school, that he wins with a team of 5 (which he never uses all at once), not using Charizard, not having Pikachu as his last against a friendly rival where there’s literally no malice or true desire to see the opponent defeated on a league that was specifically set up so Ash could battle the Professor in a mask a second time after said professor previously picked a battle with Ash on a random beach. You would sense the deflation and disbelief in that reaction, this league didn’t need to happen to get what we got but we’ve slapped on this grand achievement mostly to put a question mark over Ash’s future So no, I am not celebrating this victory, I’m more let down by it. Because now what does Ash do? I would have him go for a better, stronger league but it’s not easy to narratively explain reasoning for that without admitting that the Manalo Conference was a weak facade spearheaded by the ego of Professor Kukui (’the winner of this league I made, gets to face ME’). So congrats for winning Ash, but this achievement isn’t as big as it should have been.

[themeatlife]

Avengers: Endgame (Spoiler-Free Remix Review), the Legacy of the Avengers, and the Future of Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

For those who haven’t seen it, I’ll discuss Avengers: Endgame - the movie itself without discussing or spoiling plot lines, and the larger impact it has on the legacy of the Avengers and the MCU.

Avengers: Endgame - A Review (Spoiler-Free Remix)

To begin, it’s kind of hard to judge the film on its own. Even more so than its predecessor Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame is largely dependent on the previous films. So the impact of it is less so on someone that’s only seen a handful of the Marvel movies than for someone who has invested time seeing the now 22-film catalog. With that being said, for those who have seen most or all of the other movies, wow. It is both extremely entertaining and extremely gratifying. If you are an MCU fan, Endgame was made especially for you.

While I won’t dive into what happens, what the movie effectively does is show just how far back the arc of the original six (Stark, Rogers, Thor, Banner, Barton, and Romanoff) goes and how far they have come.

Other than a couple of issues, the storyline works very well. I dug the balance it struck between the emotional weight, action, and humor. It was smart to have a lot of small moments early in the film where it focuses the interaction between characters. And it was a lot funnier than I expected it to be. The film as a whole is emotionally gratifying and clearly wraps up this chapter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is at max effectiveness if you’ve already invested the time in the characters’ previous stories, in particular the original six. If you know the original six’s stories in particular, you will thoroughly enjoy this movie.

Rather than a credits scene, the opening of the credits showcases each of the major Marvel heroes and villains over the years of the MCU, with the actor who played them and ends the sequence with the original six Avengers with the actors’ signatures displayed on screen. Cool way to salute the actors in some of the major roles over the years.

I’ll save my ranking the Infinity Saga movies for after Spider-Man: Far From Home (Marvel President Kevin Feige calls the latest Spider-Man the final installment in the Infinity Saga). You can expect that Endgame would rank very highly in my ranking.

The Legacy of the Avengers

What is the biggest impact the Avengers and Marvel’s Infinity Saga have had on pop culture?

It is crazy to think that when Iron Man came out back in May of 2008 when Marvel Studios was using Paramount to distribute, it was considered a risk. Robert Downey Jr had yet to make his comeback complete (Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes a year later marked his return full return to stardom). Iron Man was a few months before The Dark Knight came out and garnered critical acclaim and helped legitimize the comic book-based genre. And the MCU was in its infancy, no one thought it would become the bohemeth it is now.

Marvel Studios, whether intentional or accidental, helped mold and was molded by the changing methods of which people were consuming their visual entertainment. The early 2000’s saw the advent of binge-watching television, where serial series like Alias, 24, and Lost saw people prefer to consume episodes in bulk. Once Netflix got their streaming service going, the idea of binge-watching caught on everywhere. Television ratings waned as people watched things more on their time on devices other than an actual TV. People only tuned in to things when they are originally broadcast if they were billed as an event, like a series finale (or in Game of Thrones’ case a final season) or a live event like the Super Bowl. Similarly, film started becoming more event-based. Blockbusters had to be built up as an event to go to in order for films to be successful, more so now than any other film era. And in making an event out of their films, Marvel serialized their MCU movies like a season of Lost - individual episodes focused on a character or set of characters with the overarching story in the background until culminating in the season finale, or in Marvel’s case an Avengers movie.

So the biggest impact the MCU has had is shaping other movie studios approach to movie releases. After 2012’s The Avengers, many tried the serialized team-up event concept to varying degrees of failure. Universal flopped trying to launch a shared monsters universe with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy reboot in 2017. Warner Brothers has a semi-successful MonsterVerse going with Godzilla and King Kong. We’ll see how that progresses with the new Godzilla movie this summer. Warner Brothers also has the mostly failed DC Extended Universe. Starting strong with 2013’s Man of Steel but limping thereafter with lackluster installments in 2016’s Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad and 2017’s Justice League, DC/Warner Bros has seen more success with the mostly standalone attempts Wonder Woman in 2017, Aquaman in 2018, and Shazam in 2019. DC’s current strategy is kind of confusing though, with some plans to continue the DCEU, and other plans to do more standalone work.

So the fact that Marvel’s shared universe set of movies has worked and has been the only one to work so successfully is an anamoly and an achievement. Marvel was allowed to build its world over time, a luxury that was afforded to them by Paramount from 2008-2011 and by Disney when they were acquired in 2012. The first two phases of the MCU spanned ten films from 2008-2015, building a foundation for what the franchise is today. That type of patience has not been lended to DC in particular, something that ended up looking and feeling rushed and resulted in a less successful and less satisfying result in the DCEU.

The Marvel approach has changed not just the method of outside studios release strategies but also in releases within their Disney family. For studios to make money on these films, they have to culminate in an event to get people to the theater. Fewer and fewer indie films turn into financial successes, at least at the theater. So event movies galore are on the horizon at Disney. Disney proper has “live-action” remakes of classics animated classics Aladdin and Lion King coming out this summer and Frozen 2 in the winter. Pixar has Toy Story 4 set for a summer release as well, even though the third installment was originally thought to be the conclusion of the story. Lucasfilm has what has been announced to be the finale of the Skywalker saga in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming out this winter. Each of those marketed as an event, whether it be a nostalgic event, an unexpected continuation, or a conclusion of a story.

Up Next for the Disney and the Marvel Cinematic Universe

While Marvel Studios has changed the movie industry and pop culture, it is hard to say what the next step for the MCU is. We know of a few things coming though.

With the announcement of Disney’s streaming service, Disney+, coming in November, there were MCU projects also announced to debut on the service. Loki, Falcon/Winter Soldier, and Wanda/Vision will all get series on Disney+. There will also be an interesting What If series where they were explore what if scenarios of some of your favorite Marvel characters.

The MCU’s film future is less set. We know that Spider-Man: Far From Home (co-release with Sony Pictures) comes out in July and is set in the immediate events after Endgame. After that, we know a few projects are in production but no definitive release dates have been set. Projects include a Black Widow flashback, origin stories for The Eternals and Shang-Chi, and sequels for Guardians of the Galaxy, Doctor Strange, and Black Panther as well as talks of sequels for Ant-Man and Wasp, Captain Marvel, and Thor (although I think the route for the Thor character should be to join the Guardians).

And then there is 21st Century Fox. Disney acquired the entertainment wing of Fox proper earlier this year (I was scared of Apple taking over the world, but Disney is closer to doing so). Fox owned the movie rights to all the Marvel properties included in the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Fox’s run of X-Men movies presumably concludes this summer with Dark Phoenix. Since Marvel Studios now owns the movie rights to what has been traditionally two of the more popular Marvel brands, one would think some sort of reboot and integration into the MCU would be coming in this next chapter.

I’ll end on this. The Avengers Infinity Saga, the Star Wars Skywalker Saga, and Game of Thrones are all pop culture epics that will be ending their current chapters this year. It is hard to imagine the changing entertainment world will ever have subjects as impactful as these given the number of formats available and the vast number of entertainment options now available. Those three epics, especially the oldest being Star Wars, caught pop culture at a time when people would watch and experience the same thing. Soon, the event-centered entertainment world will grow smaller with less people gathering to experience and watch the same thing. Or maybe I’m wrong and every generation finds a way to galvanize to have that shared experience (Gone With The Wind, the original Star Wars, Titanic in the film world all being previous examples). I hope for the latter, but I can’t help but feel that the record-breaking Avengers: Endgame will be one of the last of its kind: an event that everyone wants to share and experience together.

[poetobservationz]

Complexities are not always yours to untangle

My blog is specifically for me. I hesitated before I put this down, but this is my truth. And I need to figure certain patterns and issues out within myself. So maybe this serves as a content warning. But you are welcome to continue. 

I am growing up and need to write this. 

Also, disclaimer, if you are coming here not expecting to read about yourself somewhere you simply don’t know me. 

 When I was 14, in 8th grade, I fell for the wrong type of guy. 

Now for context, in 8th grade, I had insecurities that nearly sunk me. I was chubby, had acne, braces, the whole thing. My appearance made me sad, but I focused on other things as best I could. I became the matchmaker of my 8th grade. That is not an over-exaggeration. I paired people together and helped them “get over” the awkwardness that puberty and middle-school exacerbate in dating. I loved doing it. I seemed to have resigned to never be loved, and just have others be in love around me. I lived vicariously through my friends, begging for details, took up fingers on the mission of texting buddies, chatted on facebook, made calls, and loved hearing about “love”. And sure, it was naive to think or feel any certain way about it, but that is the beauty of being 14. You know you are naive, but it is your world and all you know and all of the sudden hormones are thrown into it and nobody knows what is happening but it is terrible and lovely at the same time. 

I was enthralled by the drama and updates. And I worked to find solutions. I sat down with arguing friends, disputing partners, even enemies with the intention that I would help. 

I listened to the depressed classmates, taking their calls at 3 am till my sister begged me to shut up. 

I wanted connection so badly. It wasn’t like I didn't have friends. I was friends with everyone. But it seemed to me that conflict brought something more real, more raw, more human, that the daily more digest-able lunch-table conversations didn’t dare go. People would, brick by brick tell me everything. Their secrets would be whispered in hushed voices over paper-mache in art class, or stuffed in notes in my locker. 

Everyone else wanted connection, too. 

But I didn’t see it that way when I was 14. 

When I was 14 I thought, perhaps as a less evolved version, that people felt like they could tell me their deepest darkest secrets because I asked. 

I didn’t realize people never asked the questions I asked. 

I didn’t realize that the reason people answered was because nobody had asked them about their pain and hurt. 

I didn’t realize I was any good at making people feel comfortable or like they could trust me. 

I didn’t realize that for a lot of people, I was all they had. 

No, indeed all this knowledge came way later; when, people would reach out and say something to me about it. But, that is a story for another time. 

My curiosity grew from this.

 And in the winter of 8th grade, I was introduced to a boy who was everything my young, hopeful, determined brain and heart could imagine psychoanalyzing. He was 2 years older than me and didn’t go to the public school systems because he had severe psychological issues. 

I was immediately and seemingly irrevocably fascinated. He was pursuing my friend who I’ll refer to as “K”. She brought me along to all their covert, strange, twilight late meetings. He would remain a mystery and just sort-of avoid all direct conversation, usually be commenting to his friend that would always accompany him. 

I couldn’t get him off my mind, but I was strict with myself, after all, this glowing example of a human being K had dibs on. 

Also, I never thought he’d be interested in me. 

He was a mess of contradictions. He would express how desperately he wanted to connect with someone but then his face would go dark and he’d shut down. He would claim he was still in love with his ex and then say he loved someone else. He would tell me he wanted to hang out and then disappear. 

Now I recognize he was sick. But at the time, my mystery fascination and unrelenting sense of safety produced a set determination for me to figure him out and help him. 

I thought I could save him. I even told him I wanted to figure him out. He made some sort of bet with me, which years later he’d admonish that I had won. I had cracked his oh-so-impossible code. 

But it wasn’t easy. He made it very difficult. He played a good game. 

Anyway, during that winter, he told me that he liked me over K. He told me dibs were stupid. I told him I’d never kissed anybody romantically (spin the bottle didn’t count). I thought that would make him less interested because he had repeated several times how experienced he was. His virginity was lost when he was 13. I didn’t tell him I was allowed to date. My mother had been saying since 7th grade that I couldn’t date till I had a job. With that in mind, and with the first boy in my entire life expressing romantic interest in me, I went out and got a job. 

I had no context for the way I was supposed to be treated. No real world examples. Nothing overtime that which could give me a real sense of anything substantial. My dad died when I was 6, and my single mother was the example of a strong, single woman. 

You can see how easy it must’ve been, huh? 

I was excited by the idea of being pretty to someone. I told K what he had said to me, and discovered at this point she was over him. 

He didn’t talk to me for an entire week. 

It never occurred to me that this was very abnormal behavior. He was posting on facebook, interacting, but never responded to me. I thought I had done something wrong and started freaking out. I freaked out all week, silently. My friends heard nothing from me about it. Many of them had no idea I had a crush at all. 

The few who did did not like him. 

When he finally responded he invited me and my friend, Sarah, over. 

He wouldn't let us into his house, so Sarah walked over to the window he was behind and knocked on it. He came running after us with a knife. 

Smoking a cigarette. 

I was terrified. I was also fascinated. 

He apologized over text, it had been a long day. It was okay, love is complicated, I replied. 

He responded then, the most dreaded response I could receive from him: 

“k”

He did this on purpose. He would reply “k” for a couple days, usually. I would grow quieter around friends, make myself small, avoid conversation. I became very depressed. Something very few people in my life know. 

He told me to hang out with him when he knew I had plans with other people, and then he suggests we break up if I couldn’t come. 

I started hanging out at home till he texted me. 

He would ask me to come over, I would excitedly skip to his house, a good 3 miles away, and then he would tell me to leave when I got there. 

When we would hang out he would try to pressure me to do things I didn’t want to do. And I would be confused, did he not love me? Or did I not love him? Why would he not take “no” for an answer? 

I desperately wanted to love him. And I wanted him to love me. I tried so hard to make love happen. 

Sometimes when I think back to this time, I imagine my 14-year-old self, so willing to do anything for this boy, so truly committed, so eager to please him. I wanted more than anything to understand him. He knew this and used it against me. 14 is young. You don’t yet know myth vs fact for a lot of things you hear, you don’t know how to care for yourself, or how to ask for help, or when even. I read books like the Twilight Saga, and Gossip Girl. I watched American Idol. I listened to Green Day to feel edgy. I was innocent. Almost annoyingly so. 

And I promise you, I believed the world and its inhabitants were inherently good. 

One day, he decided he was going to get what he wanted or else we would break up. 

I begged him do not break up with me. I told him I loved him. I cried and tried to hug him but he pushed me away. He laughed at me crying and rolled his eyes. 

He broke up with me because I wouldn’t have sex with him. 

And then he tried to have sex with me. 

He took my pants off, and I quietly asked him to stop, shy and afraid of heartbreak. He ignored me till I was crying. 

Then he told me to stop crying. 

He told me we were over after that, then made out with my best friend in front of me who had come to walk home with me. 

He was slick like that. 

And then the boy who made me walk to him every day, only to be turned away 80% of the time, ran after us and asked for my friend's number. 

He was charismatic for the first time in ages. Suddenly I realized how broken his brain was. But then, I couldn’t think anymore. 

He pulled a cigarette out and smoked it. My friend didn’t even know he had been my boyfriend 20 minutes earlier. I felt blank. It was the last and first time I ever felt this sensation. 

I had just been raped and I had no idea. 

I was in shock.

He walked us to my home, and my friend happily decided to hang out with him instead of coming along with me. 

I went home and into bed even though it was still the early afternoon. 

I slept for 14 hours. 

Then, I started cutting myself. 

I still remember it like it was yesterday. I woke up from the long rest and wanted to die. I felt guilt, and self-disgust and hatred. 

I looked at myself in the mirror and instead of sadness, which I usually felt, I felt hatred. 

It is crazy to think I had no idea what was happening to me happened to so many other people. But I was also 14. Some people go through this way later in life, even recognizing it then is difficult, I guess. 

But the only thing that made sense at the time was taking it out on my body. I wanted to die, but that was so complicated. My body felt disgusting and as I showered I wept, but not tears, hating my own nakedness. I remember thinking how the sensation of crying was similar to that of cutting and bleeding. 

The hurt felt good. It also somehow felt stronger than crying. It became my stronghold. It made me feel in control. My self-hatred and self-disgust were overwhelming but I could almost quiet it with marking myself. 

When I wanted to die really badly, I would think about my family. More fighting had happened since my break up, and nobody knew why. 

I burned myself and would illicit any sort of pain I could find. 

I wanted to die. 

But I couldn’t do it to my family. Even though I wanted nothing more for myself. 

I didn’t understand what happened till 12th grade in health class. Sexual assault was defined for me, and the memories I had worked very hard to repress came flooding back as if the spell of my shock had been lifted. 

I sobbed in the bathroom, and kissed my wrists (long healed), and felt the weight of the world lift off my shoulders. 

I wasn’t crazy. I was just a little broken. And now I had a name for my monster. 

And I was not going to lose. 

And I didn’t. 

[word-katamari]

matpat pls

I know, I know -- we’re all, to some extent, excited about For Honor, and with its release date so close, we’re all lapping up as many videos as we can and buying tickets aboard the hype train.

During my hype-routine, I stumbled across this video. As entertaining as it is, I can’t help but feel that it’s a treasure trove of misinformation, and that its central argument is inherently flawed.

Ordinarily, I’d let this go -- because, after all, it’s a video about Vikings vs Knights vs Samurai -- the premise is fucking batshit, and supposed to be merely a fun thought exercise, and hopefully, hilarious.

However, with the Game Theorist’s claim that they ‘treat old school yard debates with the seriousness of post-graduate dissertations’, one can’t help but feel that they intended to take the topic seriously, and present an informative and intellectual view to their general audience.

This does not seem to be the case.

While I’m sure Matpat and the Theorists had no ill-intentions with their poorly researched video, their points were presented confidently under scholarly pretenses; which, to me, is at best careless, and at worst, disingenuous.

Obviously, it wouldn’t be fair, nor constructive for me to simply leave it at that, so I will now correct and debunk this video.

Let it be known that while I do know a thing or two RE: this subject matter, I do not know everything, and (especially when you consider the sources available) cannot possibly know everything regarding Vikings/Knights/Samurai. Some things have been lost to history.

So, let’s get this started.

1. A FUCKIN’ SUMMARY: your argument is invalid

The Game Theorists, in an effort to come to a conclusion on the question of ‘who would win -- Vikings/Knights/Samurai?’ decided to ‘make the fight fair’ by ruling out any anachronistic armament/technology, and limiting the three factions to equipment/tactics/training that they’d have access to in the 11th century (1000-1100CE).

From this, they concluded that:

The Vikings would be eliminated immediately, due to their ‘poor equipment’

Samurai would defeat Knights due to their focus on the bow, and their ridiculous wealth (allowing them to purchase the best armaments and retainers)

I believe this conclusion to be incorrect because:

The Vikings did not have ‘poor equipment’

Wealth should be equalised in this scenario, much like armament/technology, due to the varied nature of individuals within the three competing groups

Kyuudou (mounted archery) does not confer as much an advantage as implied

Furthermore, as Matpat was unable to state the context of the battle (ie. whether we are talking about 100v100v100, or 1v1v1), it is unclear who the actual combatants are; as 100 fighters are fundamentally a different beast compared to 1.

While I understand that Matpat did explicitly use a 1v1v1 scenario to ‘play the fight out’, he also cited the Samurai’s ability to hire retainers/soldiers/bodyguards to cover his weaknesses as an advantage -- which would be irrelevant in a 1v1v1 scenario.

As such, I will be counter-arguing with a focus on 1v1v1, and only address team combat when appropriate (ie. when debunking Matpat’s claims).

Without further ado, here is why the Vikings would put up a better fight than claimed:

2. VIKINGS: badass for a damn good reason

Right off the bat, the video loses all credibility by positing that ‘vikings’ were ill-equipped, ‘defensive nudists’ with ‘garbage weapons’ and the ‘medieval equivalent of tissue paper’ for armour. They also make the meaningless claim that they would ‘easily crumble against someone who knew what they were doing’.

First, let me remind everyone that the Vikings were raiders, yes -- but they were also settlers, traders, mercenaries, and conquerors. They were an entire culture of people who had, by the 11th century, been from Thracia to the Americas; and not only that -- returned to Scandinavia with both goods and knowledge.

As such, it would be an insult to the Viking legacy to insinuate that they were nothing but nude barbarians.

Contrary to what the video states, the Vikings did have access to quality arms and armor.

For one, Viking armament was generally equivalent to that of their Western European counterparts, considering much of their armament was acquired from other European Kingdoms to begin with. It’s noteworthy that an entire classification of swords are named after the Vikings because a large portion of them were found in Viking graves!

Furthermore, there is a direct mention of armored Vikings in the Saga of Olav Haraldsson (47. OF THE BATTLE AT NESJAR). To quote it directly, it is stated that: “King Olaf had in his ship 100 men armed in coats of ring-mail, and in foreign helmets.” As the Battle of Nesjar happened in 1016CE, it’s quite clear that any determined/wealthy enough Viking would have access to a mail hauberk.

Not only that, but in the Saga of Harald Hadrade (97. SKIRMISH OF ORRE), it is stated that in the Battle of Stamford Bridge (1066 CE), Hadrade’s forces ‘threw off their coats of ringmail’, which resulted in heavy casualties. This is further evidence to 11th century Viking access to mail armour.

Additionally, ever since the 10th century, the Vikings consistently flocked to ‘Miklagard’ (aka. Constantinople, aka. the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire) to join the Varangian Guard (appropriate music); many of which returned home. Do you really think these crack shock troops of the Basileus himself would not return to Scandinavia with a few pieces of Roman gear with them; let alone their training and experience?

Matpat also seems to discount or not acknowledge the effectiveness of the shields employed in that era. Yes. Viking shields were made primarily of wood -- but that didn’t make them ‘shoddy’ or ‘poor quality’. In fact, wooden shields have been the norm across centuries -- and work just fine against most conventional medieval weaponry (like arrows).

All of this completely contradicts the basis of Matpat’s argument -- that the Vikings would be out of the running due to inferior equipment. That claim is blatantly untrue, and it’s clear that the Vikings would be on par with the Knights in terms of equipment -- if not identical.

I would also like to dismiss the claim that the Vikings ‘would easily crumble against someone who knew what they were doing’. This is a nonsensical claim that can be applied to any fighter. A Navy SEAL would easily crumble against someone who knew what they were doing. A child would easily crumble against someone who knew that they were doing. In martial arts and combat, there is always someone better.

To conclude this segment, I will now summarise and counter the duel which Matpat narrates:

The Viking charges in a display of bravery.

Why? What’s the purpose of charging into a fight without properly assessing the situation? They’re Vikings, not idiots.

And then he takes an arrow to the back.

If he were fighting smartly, he wouldn’t. He’d be behind his shield. Or loosing arrows back.

Blade to the side.

This implies that the Viking doesn’t know how to use their shield, or how to fight. Considering Matpat has the Knights use longswords (???), this seems unlikely. I’m a longsword fencer. I have difficulty fencing i.33 guys and gals with their teensy bucklers. A big, Viking round shield would provide an edge over a two-handed weapon, due to the fact that you can effectively close off entire lines of attack, while simultaneously striking.

The Viking’s desperate axe swing ‘rejected’... His rudimentary armaments no match...

A sturdy, wooden shield and a damn dinner knife can serve perfectly fine in a fight, as long as the fighter knows how to use them. I don’t thin, it’d be unreasonable to assume that the Viking in this scenario would know how to use his weapons.

3. WEALTH IS IRRELEVANT: seize the means of consumption!

Wealth is definitely important, when considering conflict -- but that’s like saying breathing is important when considering living.

Money means better equipment and training; but it’s also finite, and dependent on an individual’s factors.

Most Samurai would be able to afford expensive equipment, due to the fact that the Samurai class is a much smaller and more specific class than ‘Knights’ or ‘Viking’.

However, there were likely incredibly rich Vikings and Knights as well; just as how there were less-wealthy Samurai.

As such, I feel it would be more in the spirit of the scenario to consider that all three combatants were equipped with the best armaments they’d have access to in the 11th century.

4. WHY KYUUDOU ISN’T THAT EFFECTIVE: and why ringmail is so damn popular (even in Japan)

Let me start by saying that horse archery is effective -- against unarmored targets.

The moment you throw mail and shields into the mix (of which the Vikings and Knights had aplenty), those arrows suddenly fall off a cliff in regards to effectiveness.

Yes. Mail. Ringmail. Chainmail.

Contrary to popular belief, mail (riveted, not butted) was highly effective at preventing piercing damage. Don’t believe me? Here’s a video of a pilum being thrown full force at a properly made set of mail. Of course, Eldgrim explains that there’s still a lot of kinetic energy being transmitted through the armor, but with the gambesons (padded armor) that many wore beneath their hauberks, this would mitigate some of the impact.

Most videos you find on the internet that show mail being penetrated usually shows butted mail -- which is an absolutely useless form of armor.

The only type of damage that butted mail can effectively prevent is slicing. I don’t mean a chop or a swing of a sword -- I mean a sawing or a drawing motion, and let’s be real here -- a padded jacket can do that, and be much cheaper.

Riveted mail is a different beast entirely. While it’s not impervious to all piercing attacks, it is impervious to most -- and coupled with a gambeson, and a good helmet, the wearer will drastically reduce their vulnerability to a Samurai’s arrows.

Furthermore, in an arena setting, a Viking or a Knight could easily just turtle the fuck up behind their shield, and wait for the mounted Samurai to... Run out of arrows -- or come to them.

Matpat also brings up the mobility of ou-yoroi armor for some reason. I can only assume he brings this up to imply that the mail hauberks used in Western and Northern Europe in the 11th century were heavy and clumsy -- but considering that full sets of ou-yoroi weighed around 30kg, they aren’t particularly the lightest sets either.

Not only that, but their design and shape, compared to mail, makes their wearers less dextrous, and agile. The bulky pauldrons, arm guards... Etc.

Mail, by contrast, is flexible. It’s like wearing a shirt. Sure, it can be heavy if you let it hang from your shoulders, but if you tie a belt round your waist, all that weight gets evenly distributed along your core, and bam, it really is like wearing a shirt.

Therefore, ou-yoroi being designed to allow for the most mobility is a non sequitur. It’s made even more nonsensical when you consider that all armor (save for jousting armor) is made for mobility -- how the fuck else are you gonna fight in it, then?

Also, Matpat mentions that ou-yoroi covers more areas of a person’s body -- when in reality, 11th century ou-yoroi covered just as much as a mail hauberk. Upper body, upper legs.

5. OTHER MISCONCEPTIONS AND CONCLUSION

At around 9:30 of the video, Matpat introduces knights as having used Longswords during the 11th century. This is incorrect. Longswords became popular/in-use primarily during the 14th century. It is an anachronistic technology in this 11th century scenario.

He also tells us to look to the Warden class for some ‘really accurate knight weaponry’ but... idk man, that is probably the longest and bulkiest longsword i’ve ever seen... (distal taper, where?)

There are a few more that I’ll save for a later article -- but for now, I’ve downed way too much coffee to be healthy, and will now move to my conclusion:

If the best equipped and trained Viking, Knight, and Samurai were put into a battlefield -- there is no clear picture on who will win.

Also, do some damn research.

[recentanimenews]

How the Haikyu!! OVA Turns the Series into a Real Sports Event

  When you watch a championship game, or pretty much any sporting event that serves as some sort of culmination of a grander narrative, you're not seeing the full picture. Sure, the team you're watching at that moment might be the one you usually root for, but the saga unfolds in richer detail when you see it from every possible angle. That's what makes Haikyu!!'s fourth season so special, and it's why the OVA episodes that lead up to it are an absolute must-watch piece of the puzzle. 

  Once that puzzle is complete, the final, totally display-worthy piece of art you end up with is the clash of a ferocious, determined cat and a plucky and proud crow, clawing at one another in a desperate attempt at dominance. The cat, of course, is none other than Nekoma High, which continues to build toward its inevitable rematch with Shoyo Hinata, Tobio Kageyama, and the rest of the boys at Karasuno High School. 

  It's practically written in the stars as a match for the ages, and the LAND VS. AIR episodes stir up the hype like no other.

    Back in the first season of Haikyu!!, Karasuno geared up for a practice match against Nekoma that finally kicked off in episode 12. Their destined rivalry didn't just pop up out of nowhere, though. Karasuno's former coach Ikkei Ukai had a long-standing competitive streak with Nekoma head coach Yasufumi Nekomata. It's a friendly type of rivalry, even if it has led to bickering and insults, especially when Nekomata called out current Karasuno coach, Keishin Ukai, for being a little too much like his grandfather. 

  Anime is absolutely built upon these rivalries. Everything from Naruto to Pokémon is all about how close-knit, mildly antagonistic relationships can help push two ostensibly different people or groups with the same goals forward. Nekoma isn't exactly a deuteragonist as far as sports teams are concerned, but they play a similar role in the growth of Karasuno and the individual members of its ever-evolving volleyball squad. These OVAs give them time to shine without the shadow of a full murder of crows blacking out the lights high above the net. 

    Nationals are looming for everyone, and there are three slots left as Nekoma High competes in the Tokyo qualifiers. The pressure is on, and the two episodes in LAND VS. AIR give us a front row seat as captain Tetsuro Kuroo and the rest of the Nekoma squad attempt to make it to the grand stage and, perhaps, get a shot at an eventual "Battle of the Garbage Dump" rematch with Karasuno. For those rooting for the latter—which is everyone reading this, right?—this is another chance to size up the competition and get a more intimate look at some of the characters introduced way back in season one. 

  How has team libero Morisuke Yaku grown since we last watched him compete? Is he still as insecure about his height as Hinata is over at Karasuno? What about the black-rooted blond "pudding head" known as Kenma Kozume, or middle blocker and self-proclaimed ace, Lev Haiba, whose appearance is about as befitting of a Nekoma member as humanly possible? Who could forget the intimidating presence of the team's actual ace, Taketora Yamamoto, the hot-headed wing spiker who looks more like someone you'd run into in the pages of Masanori Morita's Rokudenashi Blues?

    The beauty of Haikyu!! is that, despite the fact that we've spent three seasons and counting following both the on-court and personal lives of Karasuno's volleyball team, throwing us in the thick of their rival's drama just feels natural. Nekoma's battle against Fukurodani Academy has its own unique stakes, and it all inevitably feeds into the future showdowns we can look forward to. The characterization in Haruichi Furudate's original manga and Production I.G's excellent adaptations means there's plenty of room to take a break from our very good Karasuno boys. As soon as the first serve is up in the air, we're just as invested in whether or not Nekoma is going to succeed and live to face off against their eternal rivals another day. 

  It turns out, in the end, they're all good boys. Well, maybe not Aobajohsai's Toru Oikawa. Or Shiratorizawa's Wakatoshi Ushijima. You know what? Forget it. BEAT THEM ALL TO A PULP, KARASUNO! 

  As long as Hinata doesn't just decide to venture down the path of pro Ball Boy, we'll hopefully see the rivalry between his and Nekoma's team play out on the anime court once more. It's that ability to care about your opponent and the willingness to let them take center stage for even a moment that brings the series that much closer to being a real sports event. 

  Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to shelve my Nekoma gear and go back to practicing my Karasuno cheers, screaming until my throat explodes. 

    -------

Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his webcomic, BIG DUMB FIGHTING IDIOTS at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox. 

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[cover2covermom]

Today I am sharing a batch of mini book reviews from participating in #IronTomeAThon in the month of July.

*Books included in this batch of mini book reviews: Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawrence, American Gods (American Gods #1) by Neil Gaiman, Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse, and A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent #1) by Marie Brennan

» Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor #1) by Mark Lawrence

#IronTomeAThon

Red Sister is about a young girl named Nona who is beginning her training at Sweet Mercy, a convent that trains girls to become Sisters.  We follow Nona as she navigates her new life at the convent and the rigorous demands of her training.

 From the very first line, I was completely captivated by Red Sister.   The characters are complex.  The world is well developed and fascinating.  The plot was fast paced, action-packed, and an adventure from start to finish.  This book has everything I love in my fantasy books: bad ass leading lady, action, magic abilities, school/training setting, political drama, and an emphasis on friendships. 

One thing that Mark Lawrence did in Red Sister was take a few common tropes we see regularly in fantasy and flipped them into something unexpected.   You might think you know how a scenario might play out, but Mark Lawrence does a great job of keeping us on our toes throughout the entire book.

In my copy of Red Sister, Mark Lawrence included a glossary in the FRONT of the book, which I found very helpful.  More often than not, when these are included in the back of the book, I am not able to utilize it because I don’t realize the book includes a glossary until I’m finished.  This glossary included important information regarding the world, characters, etc.  I did not need to use this glossary aside from a time or two because everything is laid out clearly in the story, but I appreciated the inclusion.

One of my only complaints about Red Sister would be the fact that Nona was supposed to be a very young girl throughout much of the story.  Nona did NOT feel like a young girl of 9 or 10, but more like a girl of 14+ at the very youngest.  This does happen to be a pet peeve of mine in books.  While I do understand that this is a different world from our own thus a 9-year-old might mature faster than in our own world, it still bothered me slightly.

If you enjoy dark, gritty, and intense fantasy, I highly recommend Red Sister.   I read somewhere that someone described this book as “Arya Stark at Hogwarts,” and it really is an accurate statement.  Arya Stark is a character from Game of Thrones, and Hogwarts is the school setting in Harry Potter.  It also gave me The Name of the Wind and The Poppy War vibes.

***Trigger/content warning: graphic violence***

» American Gods (American Gods #1) by Neil Gaiman

#IronTomeAThon

American Gods is about our main character, Shadow, and how his world gets flipped upside-down when he get mixed up with a man called Mr. Wednesday, and begins working for him.  Wednesday insists that a storm of epic proportions is coming, and needs Shadow’s help rallying the troops.  Shadow & Wednesday set off on an epic journey across the U.S, where they come across eccentric characters, run into sticky situations, and see the different landscapes America has to offer.   Themes included throughout American Gods include identity, old ways vs. new ways, religion, belief, deception, etc.

I loved how Gaiman fused together ancient mythology with the modern, portraying the power struggle between the old ways vs. new ways.  He gives us classic examples of ancient mythological characters (i.e. Odin, Anansi, etc) and creates a few new gods (i.e. technology, media, etc.)  I enjoyed watching the rivalry and the build up to the big show down.  Furthermore, I also really appreciated that Gaiman’s cast of “old gods” represent many different cultures’ mythology.  For example, we see characters from Norse mythology, Slavic mythology, Ghanaian mythology, Egyptian mythology, Germanic mythology, etc.

Shadow was such an easy main character to root for.   Despite being thrown in the midst of chaos, he was very level-headed, loyal, and compassionate.  I could not help but love him and be invested in his journey.

American Gods is longer than Gaiman’s typical novels.  Coming in at around 630-ish pages in the paperback and just under 20 hours for the audiobook.  I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by a full cast, and I really think this is how this story should be experienced.  I doubt I would have enjoyed this story as much had I read it in print form.

I can totally see where this book would not be for everyone.  If you’ve read a Neil Gaiman book before and not enjoyed his writing style, then you will most likely not enjoy this one.  Neil Gaiman’s books tend to be dark, fantastical, odd, and quirky, so if you don’t enjoy those types of stories, Gaiman is probably not the author for you.  Actually, if you’ve never read a Gaiman book before, I would recommend NOT making American Gods your first. 

Is American Gods my favorite Neil Gaiman book?  No.  Neverwhere, Stardust, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane still hold the top spots as my favorite Gaiman books.  Do I think it is still a very worthwhile book to read?  Absolutely!  As long as you know what you are getting yourself into going into the book 🙂

I’d recommend this book to those that enjoy mythology, folktales, and longer epic saga type stories.

» Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse

#IronTomeAThon

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Trail of Lightning is about a young monster hunter named Maggie.  Maggie is determined to uncover the truth behind a new breed of monster, but she quickly learns that the truth is much more evolved than she ever imagined.  Trail of Lightning features themes like survival, good vs. evil, what makes someone a “monster,” PTSD/anxiety, and morality. 

What really worked so well in Trail of Lightning was the post-apocalyptic world that Roanhorse creates.  In this story, a global flood has wiped out most of the population.  Dinétah, the former Navajo reservation before the “big water,” is such a cool backdrop for this story.  In this new world, mythological beings and monsters walk among the survivors.  I loved the infusion of Native American mythology within a post-apocalyptic world.  The concept behind the magic system, that certain individuals receive certain clan powers like speed, fighting, weather control, etc, was also intriguing.

Maggie, our main character, was a very complex character.  While she was courageous, fierce, & strong, she was also withdrawn and guarded.   I appreciated that she was not perfect, and struggled with her own morality throughout the novel.

I must admit, this was probably a 3.5 star read until the last 100 pages.  For only being  287 pages, the first half of the book was a slow build up.  The first two chapters were action-packed and brutal, but then things slow way down from there until the final 100 pages.  Since the book was so short, I feel like some of the plot and character development was a bit rushed.  Trail of Lightning could have been 100 pages LONGER to give more time to develop some of these elements.  The final 100 pages, the climax and resolution, were on point!  I look forward to reading the next installment in this series.

 I’d recommend this book if you like books that give you a western-ish feel, enjoy post-apocalyptic fiction, and books that feature Native American mythology.  Trail of Lightning also gave me similar vibes to the TV show Supernatural, so if you enjoy that show d I think you’d enjoy this book.

***Trigger/content warning: graphic violence***

» A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent #1) by Marie Brennan

#IronTomeAThon

A Natural History of Dragons is told in a memoir style narrative of a prominent dragon natural scientist in her early years before she became “Lady Trent.”  As a young girl, Isabella dreams of studying the natural sciences, specifically dragons.  A Natural History of Dragons follows Isabella as she grows from a young girl with a dream, to becoming a young woman traveling to the far off mountains of Vystrana on an expedition to learn more about the creatures that have fascinated her for years.

There was so much that I loved about this story: the Victorian era setting, the feminist tones, the fantasy-historical fiction mash up, the challenging of gender norms, the focus on natural science, the mystery story line…

With a title like “A Natural History of Dragons,”  you’d think that the book would include a lot of dragons or interactions with dragons, but it really doesn’t…  A Natural History of Dragons is really more about Isabella, her early years, her early interest in the natural sciences, her courtship, the expedition, and the mystery surrounding the expedition.  While I was a tad disappointed that dragons were not featured more throughout the story, I highly enjoyed Isabella’s personal journey.  I’m hoping that this first book is setting up the subsequent books for more dragon action.

Isabella was an excellent female lead who wasn’t about to tolerate the gender norms of the times.  While other girls her age are dreaming of making a suitable marriage match, Isabella is stealing books from her father’s library.  She is intelligent, ambitious, energetic, and persistent in her pursuits.  I loved that she refused to settle for a provincial life, but thirsted for more.  I also really appreciated that Isabella was very flawed, and admitted when she made mistakes.  She felt very realistic, and as a 19-year-old character, felt age appropriate.

It was refreshing to read a book from a single first person perspective that followed a linear timeline.   The storyline was easy to follow because I was not distracted by POV switches or a nonlinear timeline.  Since we are given access into Isabella’s thoughts and feelings through this first person perspective, I felt very invested in her character.

If you are looking for a book with lots of action and dragons, then A Natural History of Dragons is not going to be it.  If you are looking for a book that features a young woman that is passionate about the natural sciences and her struggle to overcome the limitations on her gender in a Victorian era setting, then this book is for you.

  Have you read any of these books?  If so, what did you think?

Comment below & let me know 🙂

    Mini Book Reviews: August 2019 - Part 1 #BookReview #Books #Reading #BookBlogger #Bookworm #AmReading #Fantasy Today I am sharing a batch of mini book reviews from participating in #IronTomeAThon in the month of July.